Who: Peter Geye in conversation with Keith Lesmeister
What: an evening celebrating Geye’s new novel, A Lesser Light
Where: T-Bock’s Upstairs
When: Thursday, 5/14 at 7:00pm
Join Peter Geye, author of A Lesser Light, and Keith Lesmeister, local author and literary advocate, on Thursday, May 14th, at 7:00 PM at T-Bock’s Upstairs for a reading, conversation, Q&A, and signing!
Peter Geye is the award-winning author of Safe from the Sea, The Lighthouse Road, Wintering (winner of the Minnesota Book Award), Northernmost, and The Ski Jumpers. Geye earned his MFA from the University of New Orleans and his PhD from Western Michigan University, where he was editor of Third Coast. He currently teaches the year-long Novel Writing Project at the Loft Literary Center. Born and raised in Minneapolis, he continues to live there with his family.
Joining Peter Geye in conversation is Keith Lesmeister, author of Mississippi River Museum and We Could’ve Been Happy Here. Keith is the co-director of the Luther College Writers Festival, teaches writing and literature at Northeast Iowa Community College, and is currently serving as a 2023–2025 Rural Regenerator Fellow through Springboard for the Arts.
Set against the brooding beauty of Lake Superior in 1910, A Lesser Light tells a piercing story of selfhood, determinism, and the collision of progress and tradition. Theodulf Sauer, a proud lighthouse keeper, and his new wife, Willa, bound by an ill-suited arranged marriage, face a tense and hostile relationship as Willa grapples with a future stolen from her. Amid her fascination with the cosmos and the impending arrival of Halley’s Comet, a clairvoyant girl and her uncle emerge to challenge the couple’s fragile façade, offering glimpses of promise and insight. As Willa’s self-determination grows, tragedy strikes their remote station, hurling her toward an uncertain future. Exploring industry, superstition, and patriarchy’s corrosive power, this gripping novel unfolds against a backdrop of wilderness and rapid social change.
This event is part of Dragonfly Books and the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation’s robust author event series, which brings top-notch writers of all genres to Northeast Iowa to lead in conversations about literature and writing. To learn more about this event and other events with Dragonfly Books, visit www.dragonflybooks.com.
If you find that you can’t make it to the event but would still like to purchase any books from this author talk, give Dragonfly Books a call at 563-382-4275. Our staff will be glad to reserve a book, have it autographed for you, and shipped out as needed.
