Name: Meet the Authors from Hayseed Press
Start: 2026-01-28T18:30:00-06:00
Location: 2629 Beaver Ave Ste S1, Des Moines, IA, United States, Iowa 50310

Join us for a fun evening of stories and conversation presented by Hayseed Press, featuring authors Marc Dickinson and Aaron Narigon.
A Very Special Hayseed Christmas
Christmas may be over, but it’s still possible to enjoy a little Iowa Christmas magic. Hayseed Press and its talented storytellers invite you to enjoy a collection of heartwarming holiday tales rooted in the spirit of the Hawkeye State. From the snow-dusted streets of Christmases past to the bright lights of celebrations yet to come, these stories capture the warmth, wonder, and occasional chills of the season. Whether you’re longing for nostalgia, laughter, or a touch of mystery by the fire, this collection offers the perfect escape from the cheerful chaos of December. Pour a cup of cocoa, ignore your to-do list for a while, pick up a book, and consider some new Christmas traditions.
For the A Very Special Hayseed Christmas short story collection, Marc contributed the gritty tale, “Anywhere But Iowa,” which offers a glimpse of an all-too-real smalltown Christmas. Meanwhile, Aaron is quite proud of the short story he wrote titled “The Legend of the Carroll County Christmas Changeling.” Aaron did quite a bit of fascinating research on changelings and why the prairie folk created this myth.
Iowa Weird, Volume 1
The authors will also discuss Iowa Weird, Vol. 1, home of the annual collection about the unusual and extraordinary you can find in our state. And those that might find you. Fifteen writers contributed spooky, creepy, and out of this world tales for this compendium of everything weird. Cedar Falls Ghost Tour Lauren Riensche shares a true ghost story from Cedar Falls that has hikers anxious to explore the north shore of Iowa’s Cedar River. Anton Jones, MFA (Iowa Playwrights’ Workshop) and two-time Jerome Many Voices Fellow, delivers a juxtaposition of what happens when rural Iowa and ChatGTP cross paths. What is lurking in the corn fields? In the lane? In the village? In the glens and barrows? Under the rivers’ thrashing waters? In your darkest desires?
The collection includes an existential battle with Iowa’s weather written by award-winning short story writer Marc Dickinson as well as a deep dive into the dark underbelly of libraries from Kara Thorstenson, who happens to be a librarian. Plus this issue features an intensive investigation into Iowa’s own mythical creature the Van Meter Monster as written by Hayseed Press co-founder Aaron Narigon.
You who fear, continue to flyover. You who dare, these dark fields lie waiting.
Marc Dickinson is the author of the short story collection, Replacement Parts (Atmosphere Press, 2024). His stories have appeared in Shenandoah, Indiana Review, Cream City Review, North American Review, Greensboro Review, Chattahoochee Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, South Dakota Review, American Literary Review (as winner of the ALR Fiction Prize), as well as other journals. He received an MFA from Colorado State University and now lives in Iowa with his wife and two children, where he teaches creative writing at Des Moines Area Community College and coordinates the long-running reading series, Celebration of the Literary Arts.
Hayseed Press co-founder Aaron Narigon holds a Master of Arts in English Language and Literature from University of Northern Iowa. He is a Professor of English and has taught at Hawkeye Community College since 2002. Currently Aaron coordinates Middlemoot, the Midwest’s premier biennial Tolkien conference, and is the co-editor of UKL, the only scholarly journal dedicated to the work of Ursula K. LeGuin.