Arizona-based writer, poet, art critic, and educator Raquel Gutiérrez is set to embark on a residency program in Iowa City as part of the Center for Translation and Global Literacy Residency program. During this time, Gutiérrez will engage in various activities, including a discussion with students in the MFA in Spanish Creative Writing program.

One of the highlights of the residency will be a live reading on April 6th at the Prairie Lights bookstore. Gutiérrez will be reading from their debut essay collection, Brown Neon, which has been described as "part butch memoir, part ekphrastic travel diary, and part queer family tree".

On April 7th, Gutiérrez will participate in a discussion and Q&A session at the Iowa City Public Library. Titled "On the Ekphrastic Memoir Rendering an Insurgent Commons", Gutiérrez will deliver insights into the ekphrastic as a creative experiment and political implications in the art of description. The discussion will also delve into the heart of identity and difference and touch on wider questions of art and politics in creative nonfiction, and promises to be an exciting opportunity for attendees to gain insights into Gutiérrez's creative process. Later that day, they will take part in the Mission Creek Festival's annual Lit Walk, where they will do a short reading at Wild Culture Kombucha.

Raquel Gutiérrez will be completing their residency in Iowa City from April 4th to April 8th, 2023.