Meet Peter

Peter Frankman was born in Lafayette, Indiana, but he didn't stay there for long. His family moved often during his childhood, taking him all across America: Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois were some of the states in which he lived. At some point early in his life, Peter realized he excelled at communicating. Not only did he receive high praise for his writing skills, but he won awards debating. Writing, however, was his passion and his passion for writingbrought him to Iowa City in 2010, when he started his time at the University of Iowa. 

Frankman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication and English in 2014. He graduated with a Master of Philosophy in Creative Writing from Trinity College Dublin in 2019.

Awards & Recognitions

In 2008, shortly after joining the largest student-run, non-partisan political organization in the United States, Junior State of America (JSA), Peter began participating in debates as often as possible. Over his two year career, he won 18 "Best Speaker Awards" for the John Burroughs High School chapter. 

He also was named the "Statesman of the Year" of the John Burroughs High School chapter
for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, the only two years he was in JSA.

On April 16, 2014, Peter was presented with the African American Studies Cultural Appreciation & Academic Achievement Award by the University of Iowa's African American Studies department. He was presented the award by Dean Horace Grant and two of his favorite professors, Lena Hill and Venise Berry.

In September 2014, Peter was awarded the Busse Family Scholarship, an academic scholarship given to him to study abroad in Germany.

In September 2019, Peter graduated from Trinity College Dublin with Distinction, meaning he averaged over an A+ average across his classes.

WRITING EXPERIENCE

Peter Frankman has worked previously as a Communications Coordinator for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics website, so chances are if you spend some time on UIHC.org or UIChildrens.org, you'll see some of his writing. He has also done freelance writing for the Williston Herald, writing various short pieces, including "Evans gets offer from Bison," and for Hoopla, writing "Aaron's Party is back, all right." He is a former writer and editor of the University of Iowa Her Campus and was a study abroad blogger, where he wrote articles such as "Traveling Alone"and "Time Changes."

He also kept a personal blog while studying in Germany, which he called "Peter Does Deutschland." Those writings are available on this site, as posts under the category "Germany."

Study Abroad Experience

Twice during his University of Iowa career, Peter took advantage of study abroad opportunities: 

  • After his freshman year at Iowa, he went on the Irish Writing Program. For six weeks he lived in Dublin, spending most of his free-time writing over one-hundred pages of creative and critical writing. This intense workshop not only had an emphasis on fiction writing, but also on Irish theater, writing plays, and close-reading literature.

  • Peter spent his last semester of college abroad in Lüneburg, Germany. He studied and became moderately proficient in conversational German.

  • For graduate school, Peter eschewed the traditional route of studying in America and was accepted to Trinity College Dublin’s Oscar Wilde Center for Creative Writing. He graduated with distinction in 2019.