The River Readings at Augustana

The 2024 River Readings will welcome Anders Carlson-Wee on Tuesday, April 23.

The reading will begin at 5 p.m. in Wallenberg Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

The River Readings series at Augustana brings literary artists to campus each year from around the country. These writers of poetry, fiction and literary nonfiction meet with students in class or other venues to discuss their work and careers.

Anders Carlson-Wee, renowned poet and author, will join us as the Spring 2024 River Reader at Augustana College.

Carlson-Wee received his MFA from Vanderbilt University and has published three compelling poetry collections, including the debut award-winning chapbook Dynamite (Bull City Press), and The Low Passions (2019) and Disease of Kings (2023) with W.W. Norton. His work delves into complexities of American excess, as well as the power of human connection. In response to his newest collection, Disease of Kings, fellow author Luis Alberto Urrea writes that Carlson-Wee "travels in and out of utter-noir midnight to lightening-dawn hues with such aplomb, his poems seem effortless."

Carlson-Wee’s work has been featured in The Paris Review, The Washington Post, Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, The Sun, and more. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Poets & Writers, the Camargo Foundation, and others. He is also the winner of the Poetry International Prize.

In addition to writing poetry, Carlson-Wee was also co-director of the 2015 short film Riding the Highline, which has won awards at the Napa Valley Film Festival, Rochester International Film Festival, and the Arizona International Film Festival.

The River Readings series is sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs, the Institute for Leadership and Service, the Thomas Tredway Library and the English department. For more information, contact Rebecca Wee, 309-794-7242.