The annual reading from the Iowa Review is the centerpiece for Aug. 27-30 live reading streams on the University of Iowa’s Writing University website. The streams will originate from events at Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St. in downtown Iowa City. All events are free and open to the public, and begin at 7 p.m.

The week’s readings include:

• Pauls Toutonghi, featuring his second novel, Evel Knievel Days, on Monday, Aug. 27
• The Iowa Review, entering its 42nd year of continuous publication, on Tuesday, Aug. 28
• Michael Perry and his new book, Visiting Tom, on Thursday, Aug. 30.

Toutonghi’s first novel, Red Weather, explored the world of a son of Latvian immigrants in Milwaukee (a background mirroring his own past as the son of Latvian-Egyptian immigrants). In Evel Knievel Days, he mines his personal history again to follow a confused young man coping with an absent Egyptian-born father, a decidedly non-American name (Khosi Saqr) and borderline OCD tendencies.

This time, the story is set in the mountain city of Butte, where a Stetson hat is a “guarantee of authenticity in Montana high society” and native son Evel Knievel is recognized by “America’s only festival entirely devoted to motorcycle daredevils.”

Toutonghi's writing has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, Zoetrope: All-Story, the Boston Review, Sports Illustrated, Book Magazine, and numerous other periodicals. He received a Pushcart Prize for his short story “Regeneration,” which appeared in the Boston Review. He teaches at Lewis & Clark College.

The Iowa Review, edited by Russell Valentino, selects content for each issue from several thousand unsolicited manuscripts from across the country and abroad. The magazine’s mission of nudging along American literature, being local but not provincial, experimental but not without respect for literary traditions, ensures that the Iowa Review reading is always a highlight for the year.

“Country Chronicler” Perry, the acclaimed author of Population 485 and Truck, A Love Story, will read from his new book, Visiting Tom: A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace, the tale of Tom Hartwig, an old-timer best known locally for building and firing homemade cannons.

Famous also for driving a team of oxen in local parades, Tom has an endless reservoir of stories dating back to the days of his prize Model A. What can we learn about life, love, and artillery from an 82-year-old man whose favorite hobby is firing his homemade cannons? Visit by visit—often with his young daughters in tow—Perry finds out.

Perry has written for Esquire, the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Backpacker, Orion, and Salon.com, and he is a contributing editor to Men’s Health.

For accommodations at the live Prairie Lights events, contact jan@prairielights.com.