English

Paige Lewis will read from their new novel, Canon. Described by Publisher Penguin Random House as "Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God’s favor," Canon is praised by bestselling author John Green as "A scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic," while Karen Russell, bestselling author of The Antidote, says: "An unprecedented page-turner . . . I wish I could spend a thousand more pages with the narrator of Canon, whose keenness, kindness, associative brilliance, storytelling authority, and crow-black humor make every line of this utterly singular novel a surprise and a delight . . . Canon filled me with overwhelming joy, joy that such an extraordinary story exists."

Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck and coeditor of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance. Lewis teaches at the University of Iowa; Canon is their first novel.

Tom Lin will read from his new novel, Babylon, South Dakota, and will be joined in conversation with University of Iowa visiting assistant professor Thomas Mira y Lopez. Described as "a tantalizing, American West saga about a Chinese American family trying to survive on their Dakota farm as a powerful, mysterious, and morally dubious military secret shapes their lives," Babylon, South Dakota is praised by bestselling author and University of Iowa colleague Kaveh Akbar as a "wildly ambitious, deeply strange world with its own ecology and physics and sociology that is also, importantly, our world in all times past, present, and future," while fellow U of Iowa colleague and bestselling poet and author Paige Lewis says: "Tom Lin has written a flawless novel that belongs in a category all its own. The prose is so precise, so vivid, that even everyday objects seem fantastical, invented just for this world. I’ll never be able to look at stained glass, or chrysanthemums, or even binoculars without being immediately transported back to Babylon, South Dakota."

Julie Schumacher will read from her new short story collection, Patient, Female, and will be joined in conversation by University of Iowa associate professor Louisa Hall. Publisher Milkweed offers this description of Patient, Female: "In this irreverent collection, celebrated novelist Julie Schumacher balances sorrow against laughter. Here, we experience story not only as narrative, but as syllabus and as board game. Each protagonist—ranging from girlhood to senescence—receives her own indelible voice as she navigates social blunders, generational misunderstandings, and the absurdity of the human experience. Exquisitely honest and expertly crafted, Patient, Female renders—with dark humor and wit—the foibles of human behavior and our endearing imperfections." Bestselling author and former Prairie Lights employee Claire Lombardo also praises Patient, Female as "Shrewd, sage, and so darkly funny."