iowa city type book store founded 1978 founder jim harris headquarters iowa city iowa united states website prairielights.com prairie lights is an independent bookstore in downtown iowa city iowa founded in 1978 by jim harris . contents 1 history 2 notable author visits 3 president obama visit 4 radio program 5 references 6 external links history edit the store s original location was a 1 000 square foot 93 m2 space on south linn street . in 1982 harris moved the store to an 11 000 square foot 1 000 m2 space on south dubuque street which had been a coffee house that had in the 1930s hosted a local literary society and its guests who included carl sandburg robert frost langston hughes sherwood anderson e. e. cummings and others . 1 the store currently holds approximately 80 000 to 100 000 books covering three and a half stories . the remaining half story houses a coffee shop . 2 its facade designed to resemble a human face is a local landmark . harris sold the store to longtime employee and poet jan weissmiller and the poet jane mead in december 2008 . 2 notable author visits edit as one of iowa s largest bookstores and the major independent bookstore in the hometown of the university of iowa s writers workshop the building continues to play a role in its region s literary culture . 3 susan sontag gloria steinem and annie proulx are among the notable authors to participate in events at the bookstore . seven nobel prize winners have also had events at the store seamus heaney czes aw mi osz derek walcott saul bellow toni morrison orhan pamuk and john m. coetzee . 4 president obama visit edit president barack obama made a surprise visit to the store after a speech in iowa city on march 25 2010 . he visited the store after using prairie lights as an example of small businesses struggling to pay for health care coverage for their employees . during his visit he bought a couple of children s books . 5 radio program edit wsui in iowa city broadcast live from prairie lights a series of readings by authors appearing at the store for 18 years . among others actor mike farrell and authors michael chabon and daniel mason appeared on the program in 2008 . 6 the program stopped airing on iowa public radio in december 2008 . 7 in october 2010 the university of iowa college radio station krui fm began broadcasting live from prairie lights . 8 and the readings are streamed live and archived at http www.writinguniversity.org . references edit prairie lights . billboard.com . a b claire kirch 2008 04 22 . prairie lights has new owner . publishers weekly . by beth j. harpaz 2008 01 20 . bookstores worth putting on itinerary of ardent readers . the columbus dispatch . prairie lights exceptional author venue approaches 30 . american booksellers association website . 2007 08 01 . obama stops to browse at a bookstore . new york times . 2010 03 25 . live from prairie lights . iowa public radio website . live from prairie lights to end . iowa telegraph herald . 2008 11 12 . live from prairie lights to return . external links edit official web site upcoming speakers at prairie lights coordinates 41 39 39.31 n 91 31 59.72 w 41.6609194 n 91.5332556 w 41.6609194 ; 91.5332556 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title prairie lights & oldid 704192239 categories independent bookstores of the united statesbuildings and structures in iowa city iowavisitor attractions in iowa city iowahidden categories coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 february 2016 at 02 51 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view