IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City park has been renamed for a late resident and the first Black winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
The Iowa City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved changing the name of Creekside Park to James Alan McPherson Park. McPherson enrolled at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop after graduating from Harvard Law School, and in 1978, won the Pulitzer for “Elbow Room,” a collection of short stories. He joined the Writers’ Workshop faculty in 1981. He died in 2016.
McPherson Park, located on 7th Avenue Court, was recently renovated and features a new playground, shelter, basketball court, and restroom.