The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative welcomes two new columnists this week. Both have dedicated their lives to reporting news and information.
Ed Tibbetts was a career political reporter for the Quad-City Times before being named Editorial Page editor. His position was cut in April during a round of layoffs. The paper’s loss is your gain. We hope those who can support his work become paid subscribers. This new model, where readers can directly link to important writers, is a way we can sustain local journalism.
Dave Busiek is a household name in central Iowa because of his 39 years with KCCI-TV, first as a reporter, then anchor, and ultimately as news director. His first column as an Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member is a gripping account of one of Iowa’s cold cases. We look forward to this veteran newsman’s perspective on life and media in Iowa.
Here are the columns produced this week by members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative:
Laura Belin
Douglas Burns
Dave Busiek
Art Cullen
Cullen: “Coming up: Frank talk from Franken about beating Grassley.”
Julie Gammack
Coming Monday: Author and writing coach Deb Engle meets with our Zoom Lunch bunch to talk about memoir writing and whatever else comes up. This is for paid subscribers (proceeds fund scholarships to the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat).
Beth Hoffman
Coming next week: Beth Hoffman gets a bit trashy. Well, she’s going to write about trash on farms.
Also, shout out to Beth, whose book ‘Bet the Farm’ was recently reviewed by author Jane Smiley in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/08/28/bet-the-farm-smiley/
Subscribe to Beth’s column:
Dana James
Bob Leonard
Find out why Brian Stelter liked Bob’s Tweet linking this column:
Chuck Offenburger
This coming week: “Ed Podolak, Bobby Hansen & Gary Dolphin — the Iowa Hawkeyes’ broadcast team — are a lot of talk. But they know business, too.”
It’s my report from Iowa State Fair chili judging, which this time turned into sort of a Podolak family reunion. Chuck
Mary Swander
Ed Tibbetts
Thanks to the Iowa Capital Dispatch for reproducing our work in their Commentary section. Together, we are linking readers directly to writers.
These individual columns and our referrals to one another create a new, ad-free, reader-supported model. We believe you want this content and will support writers directly for their work. If you can afford to become paid subscribers to our columnists and donate to Iowa Capital Dispatch, great. If you can’t but want to help, please share this with your friends and on social media. Together, we intend to step into what many see as an opinion/news desert throughout Iowa.*
Are you in? Let’s grow.
*Please support your local newspaper, too.