[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H74]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATING THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, IOWA, FOR BEING DESIGNATED A 
   UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION 
                      (UNESCO) CITY OF LITERATURE

  (Mr. LOEBSACK asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my sincere 
congratulations to the City of Iowa City for its designation as a City 
of Literature by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and 
Cultural Organization. Iowa City is only the third city in the world to 
receive such designation, and the first in the United States.
  This recognition is well-deserved and rightly honors a city which has 
long been dedicated to literature and the arts. The City of Iowa City 
alone has produced more than 25 Pulitzer Prize winners in literature 
since 1955, as well as four recent U.S. Poet Laureates.
  I am proud of all who contributed to Iowa City receiving this 
designation, including Christopher Merrill, the current director of the 
University of Iowa International Writing Program. I trust future 
residents and generations to come will not only recognize the 
importance of this designation, but also continue to carry on the 
city's tradition of literary excellence.

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