# Paige Lewis (writer)
**Paige Lewis** is an American poet, novelist, editor, and teacher whose debut poetry collection, *Space Struck* (Sarabande Books, 2019), was followed by the genre-bending epic novel *Canon* ([Viking Press](https://www.edgepedia.org/viking-press), 2026). Their poems have appeared in *Poetry*, the *American Poetry Review*, *Ploughshares*, and *Best New Poets 2017*, and they curate the poetry video series Ours Poetica, produced in partnership with the [Poetry Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/poetry-foundation) and Complexly.[1](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paige-lewis) Lewis uses they/them pronouns and is married to the poet Kaveh Akbar.[2](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/151191/fun-with-doom)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Debut poetry collection | *Space Struck* (Sarabande Books, October 8, 2019), 96 pages; named one of Book Riot's Best Books of 2019[3](https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/space-struck-review.pdf) • [4](https://www.radioiowa.com/2026/09/22/iowa-poet-morphs-her-atypical-epic-poem-into-debut-novel-canon/) |
| Debut novel | *Canon* (Viking, May 19, 2026), 480 pages, ISBN 9798217059362; UK edition from Corsair on July 2, 2026[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paige-lewis/canon/) • [6](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/) |
| Editing | Co-editor with Kaveh Akbar of *Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance* (Sarabande Books, 2023)[7](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/about) |
| Chapbook | *Reasons to Wake You* (Tupelo Press, 2018)[8](https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-twenty-five/issue-twenty-five-paige-lewis/) |
| Video series | Curator of Ours Poetica, created with Sarah Urist Green and John Green through Complexly Media[1](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paige-lewis) • [9](https://therumpus.net/2020/01/17/the-rumpus-interview-with-paige-lewis/) |
| Awards | 2016 Editor's Award in Poetry from *The Florida Review*; 2018 Gregory Djanikian Scholar in Poetry from *The Adroit Journal*[2](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/151191/fun-with-doom) • [8](https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-twenty-five/issue-twenty-five-paige-lewis/) |
| Teaching | Teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa, in their fifth year there as of September 2026; earlier listings credit Purdue University and the low-residency MFA program at Randolph College[7](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/about) • [1](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paige-lewis) • [4](https://www.radioiowa.com/2026/09/22/iowa-poet-morphs-her-atypical-epic-poem-into-debut-novel-canon/) |
## Space Struck
*Space Struck*, published by Sarabande Books on October 8, 2019, collects poems that combine intimate observation with animals, astronomy, spirituality, and the natural world, moving between humor and vulnerability.[3](https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/space-struck-review.pdf) • [10](https://theobdb.com/authors/a_PJ3CmXuGUi/paige-lewis) A *Foreword Reviews* notice highlighted the collection's "playfulness and creative flourishes," quoting the poem "Because the Color Is Half the Taste," in which the speaker eats blackberries in the dark and enrolls in a night class where they learn "the universe is an arrow without end."[3](https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/space-struck-review.pdf)
In the *Sewanee Review*, Spencer Hupp described the book as "a book of unembarrassed love poems, written in what is probably the defining verse idiom of our time, the first-person digressive lyric," and noted Lewis's "real ear for endings."[11](https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/what-its-be-love-two-reviews) A Poetry Foundation interview framed the collection as a response to the catastrophes of the early 21st century, from technology-driven isolation to climate grief, quoting the line "More than anything, I want / the ability to respond perfectly / to tragedy."[2](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/151191/fun-with-doom)
Lewis has said that writing the poems was partly an exercise in escapism from eco-anxiety, and that the oldest poem in the book, "Magic Show," dates from late 2015 while the newest, "The Terre Haute Planetarium Rejected My Proposal," was written in 2018.[12](https://www.neonpajamas.com/blog/paige-lewis-interview) Their poems typically arrive in two- or three-line stanzas with indents and open space; they draft extensively in a notebook before moving a poem into a word processor.[12](https://www.neonpajamas.com/blog/paige-lewis-interview)
## Canon
*Canon*, Lewis's first novel, was published by Viking on May 19, 2026, with a UK edition from Corsair following on July 2, 2026.[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paige-lewis/canon/) • [6](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/) The book took almost eight years to complete.[4](https://www.radioiowa.com/2026/09/22/iowa-poet-morphs-her-atypical-epic-poem-into-debut-novel-canon/) It runs on two plot threads: Yara, a nonbinary artist recruited by God to kill the warrior Dominic, and Adrena, a lesbian prophet sent on a side quest to help General Harpo find his missing wife.[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paige-lewis/canon/) Yara is ferried by a talking whale named HOWBIG!, who speaks in all caps and claims to be the reincarnation of [Jacques Cousteau](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacques-cousteau); the novel's God is, in Kirkus's summary, "a profound egotist."[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paige-lewis/canon/)
Kirkus called the book "a brash, informed, and funny anti-epic" and placed Lewis in line with the postmodern satirists of the 1960s and 1970s, [John Barth](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-barth), Robert Coover, and [William H. Gass](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-h-gass), while noting a new sensitivity about gender and sexuality.[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paige-lewis/canon/) The novel drew advance praise from [John Green](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-green), Tommy Orange, Danez Smith, and Carmen Maria Machado.[6](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/)
**Origins in epic poetry.** Lewis has described the novel as growing out of a lifelong obsession with epic poetry and, specifically, the biblical story of Yael, which earlier appeared as a lengthy prose poem in *Poetry* magazine; that epic project, with a nonbinary hero, talking animals, and strange trials from God, eventually became *Canon*.[12](https://www.neonpajamas.com/blog/paige-lewis-interview) • [13](https://therumpus.net/2026/08/10/i-dont-want-to-hurt-these-characters-a-conversation-with-paige-lewis/) Raised "extremely Catholic," Lewis draws on Bible stories and on miracles their family members claimed to witness, including their late grandfather's attempt to write out every miracle he had seen.[13](https://therumpus.net/2026/08/10/i-dont-want-to-hurt-these-characters-a-conversation-with-paige-lewis/) The novel also references the Homeric epics, the *Popol Vuh*, the *Táin Bó Cúailnge*, *Evangeline*, *Aurora Leigh*, *The Tale of Kieu*, the *Kalevala*, *Aniara*, "The Anniad," *Helen in Egypt*, and *Midwinter Day*.[13](https://therumpus.net/2026/08/10/i-dont-want-to-hurt-these-characters-a-conversation-with-paige-lewis/)
Lewis considers the whole book a poem: certain sections use associative leaping and empty space on the page, a section in which oysters talk to Yara is "a straight-up poem," and the section titles work the way poem titles do, complicating what follows.[13](https://therumpus.net/2026/08/10/i-dont-want-to-hurt-these-characters-a-conversation-with-paige-lewis/)
## Ours Poetica and other work
Ours Poetica grew out of Complexly Media, the company behind [Sarah Urist Green](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarah-urist-green) and John Green's educational YouTube channels; the Greens wanted a channel dedicated to sharing poetry, and Lewis curated the series with the goal of bringing poems to people who did not know they liked poetry.[1](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paige-lewis) • [9](https://therumpus.net/2020/01/17/the-rumpus-interview-with-paige-lewis/)
With Kaveh Akbar, Lewis co-edited *Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance* (Sarabande Books, 2023), an anthology of poetry concerned with addiction and recovery.[7](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/about) • [10](https://theobdb.com/authors/a_PJ3CmXuGUi/paige-lewis) The two are each other's first readers; when they were falling in love they challenged each other to write a poem a day, and Lewis has said that without Akbar they would not have written anything in the way they have.[14](https://elpais.com/babelia/2025-03-14/kaveh-akbar-muchos-lectores-usan-la-literatura-para-sentir-que-estan-en-el-lado-de-los-buenos.html) They have also experimented together with poetry comics, trading drawings and pairing them with unused lines from each other's notebooks.[9](https://therumpus.net/2020/01/17/the-rumpus-interview-with-paige-lewis/)
## Life and education
Lewis pursued creative writing at [Florida State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/florida-state-university), earning an MFA and a PhD, and minored in astronomy as an undergraduate, a background that feeds the astronomical imagery of *Space Struck*; they have cited a particular fondness for the lives of astronomers such as [Giordano Bruno](https://www.edgepedia.org/giordano-bruno) and [Tycho Brahe](https://www.edgepedia.org/tycho-brahe).[10](https://theobdb.com/authors/a_PJ3CmXuGUi/paige-lewis) • [15](https://porterhousereview.org/?articles=of-rhythm-spatiality-and-religion-a-conversation-of-poetry-with-paige-lewis-and-kaveh-akbar) As of 2026 they teach creative writing at the University of Iowa and live in Iowa City with Akbar.[7](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/about) • [14](https://elpais.com/babelia/2025-03-14/kaveh-akbar-muchos-lectores-usan-la-literatura-para-sentir-que-estan-en-el-lado-de-los-buenos.html) Away from writing, they raise monarch butterflies, having replaced their lawn with native flowers and milkweed over three summers.[16](https://writersandtheirhobbies.substack.com/p/watch-paige-lewis-is-raising-monarchs)
## References
1. [Paige Lewis, The Poetry Foundation](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paige-lewis)
2. [Fun With Doom: Paige Lewis finds divinity in the everyday, The Poetry Foundation (October 7, 2019)](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/151191/fun-with-doom)
3. [Space Struck review, Foreword Reviews (November/December 2019)](https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/space-struck-review.pdf)
4. [Iowa poet morphs her atypical epic poem into debut novel, 'Canon', Radio Iowa (September 22, 2026)](https://www.radioiowa.com/2026/09/22/iowa-poet-morphs-her-atypical-epic-poem-into-debut-novel-canon/)
5. [CANON by Paige Lewis, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paige-lewis/canon/)
6. [Paige Lewis, author website](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/)
7. [About, Paige Lewis author website](https://www.paigelewisauthor.com/about)
8. [Issue Twenty-Five: Paige Lewis, The Adroit Journal](https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-twenty-five/issue-twenty-five-paige-lewis/)
9. [On Beloveds, Birds, and the Expansiveness of Space: Talking with Paige Lewis, The Rumpus (January 17, 2020)](https://therumpus.net/2020/01/17/the-rumpus-interview-with-paige-lewis/)
10. [Paige Lewis, The Open Book Database](https://theobdb.com/authors/a_PJ3CmXuGUi/paige-lewis)
11. [What It's Like to be In Love: Two Reviews, The Sewanee Review (January 2020)](https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/what-its-be-love-two-reviews)
12. [Past Astronauts & Quick Lipograms: An Interview with Paige Lewis, neonpajamas](https://www.neonpajamas.com/blog/paige-lewis-interview)
13. [I Don't Want to Hurt These Characters: A Conversation with Paige Lewis, The Rumpus (August 10, 2026)](https://therumpus.net/2026/08/10/i-dont-want-to-hurt-these-characters-a-conversation-with-paige-lewis/)
14. [Kaveh Akbar interview, El País Babelia (March 2025)](https://elpais.com/babelia/2025-03-14/kaveh-akbar-muchos-lectores-usan-la-literatura-para-sentir-que-estan-en-el-lado-de-los-buenos.html)
15. [Of Rhythm, Spatiality and Religion: A Conversation of Poetry with Paige Lewis and Kaveh Akbar, Porter House Review](https://porterhousereview.org/?articles=of-rhythm-spatiality-and-religion-a-conversation-of-poetry-with-paige-lewis-and-kaveh-akbar)
16. [WATCH! Paige Lewis Is Raising Monarchs, Writers and Their Cherished Hobbies](https://writersandtheirhobbies.substack.com/p/watch-paige-lewis-is-raising-monarchs)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Poets › American and Canadian poets*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license