Previous Speakers
- The premiere of "America's Darling: The Story of Jay. N. "Ding" Darling" was held at the Temple For Performing Arts in Des Moines
- David Peterson spoke about his traveling exhibit "Shattered Dreams: The Rural Crisis" at Wesley Grand in Des Moines
- Wayne Wiegand, author of Main Street Public Library spoke about the role of libraries in the Midwest from the late 19th to early 20th century.
- Simpson historian Nick Proctor spoke on Iowa and the Civil War at a reception for the State Historical Society of Iowa’s traveling exhibit, “The Fiery Trial: Iowa and the Civil War,” which is housed in a 32-foot trailer.
- Kathie Obradovich, political columnist of the Des Moines Register; Dennis Goldford, political scientist at Drake; and John Skipper of the Mason County Globe Gazette analyzed the 2012 presidential race and the Iowa Caucuses.
- Renowned editorial cartoonist Brian Duffy exhibited a collection of his watercolors, which offer various depictions of the Iowa landscape.
- Karen Keninger talked about important historical events relation to blindness in Iowa, the role of Iowans as leaders in a national civil rights movement for the blind, and recounted her personal experiences of growing up in Iowa as a blind person.
- Author Patrick Carr discussed his book Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain and What it Means for America.
- Peace Through Corn was a one-act play on the friendship between Roswell Garst and Nikita Krushchev.
- Evelyn Birkby explained her experiences at Simspon and line as an author, radio homemaker, and newspaper columnist.
- Mark Grey and Michele Devlin, authors of Postville, U.S.A described the unique town of Postville, IA and the raid on its Kosher meat packing plant by ICE.
- Authors William Taubman and Sergei Khrushchev discussed Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to Iowa.
- Doug Bauer, author of Prairie City, Iowa: Three Seasons at Home discussed his book and experiences.
- Editorial cartoonist Brian Duffy presented about his craft and state and national issues.
- Nick Reding discussed his book Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town.
- Actor Tom Milligan performed American Dreamer on the life of Henry Wallace.
- Author Steven Biel and filmmaker Sasha Waters Freyer gave a presentation on American Gothic.
- Des Moines Register’s Dave Elbert explained the Des Moines downtown renaissance.
Authors Patricia Bryan and Thomas Wolf discussed their book, Midnight Assassin: A Murder in the Heartland.
- Mildred Kalish spoke about her book, Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the Great Depression.
- Governor Robert Ray and Kenneth Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, spoke about refugees from the Vietnam War.
