the Iowa Writers' Workshop turns 75

"I would say that in some ways our program hasn't changed," says Lan Samantha Chang, the author who has directed the program since 2006. "It's true that we've gone from way back when, when people would stand up and read their stories out loud to an auditorium to share their work, to mimeographs to photocopies, but basically the emphasis on writing remains the same here. The focus on writing, apart from the industry and apart from whatever kinds of media are used to carry away the product of what we do here, remains."