The River Readings at Augustana

The 2026 River Readings will welcome poet, novelist, editor and professor, Paige Lewis, on Thursday, April 23.

The reading will begin at 4 p.m. on the Brunner Main Stage at Brunner Theatre Center. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided.

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.

About Paige Lewis

Lewis’ first collection of poems "Space Struck" was published in 2019 by Sarabande Books to enthusiastic praise. The Rumpus declared that "it pulses with light and shimmers with hope," while The Carolina Quarterly put it this way: "In a Lewis poem, paying attention reveals craziness and danger ... Lewis’ poems show us what is so hard to look at, the truth we squirm to see. And they make us culpable in the process."

While Lewis’ River Reading is timed to help Augustana celebrate National Poetry Month, it also coincides with the May arrival of their first novel, "Canon" (Viking Press 2026), which is already lauded as "a scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic" by John Green, the bestselling author of "The Fault in Our Stars."

Lewis also teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa, where they have collaborated with writer Kaveh Akbar to co-edit the anthology "Another Last Call: Poems on Alcoholism & Addiction" (Sarabande Books, 2023).

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.