Live from Prairie Lights | Luis Muñoz, Garth Greenwell, & Idra Novey - 'One Moment: Poems'

Renowned Spanish poet Luis Muñoz will read from his debut North American poetry collection, One Moment, and will be joined by his English translators, his husband Garth Greenwell and Idra Novey. Described as "Sweet, surreal, and haunting," the poems in One Moment "examine both the frictions and elusiveness that can occur between self and others...the gentle observation of sunlight like 'golden cookies on the bedspread' as you lie next to a lover. The feeling of solitude rendering you as small and still as a garbanzo bean, yearning as much for water and light as to continue being left alone" (simonandschuster.com). Bestselling poet and novelist Kaveh Akbar praises One Moment by saying, "It’s thrilling to encounter poetry this fresh, this undeniable," and adds, "No one today sounds like this."

Luis Muñoz is the author of seven books of poetry, including Vecindad. He has received the Ciudad de Córdoba, Generación del 27, and Ojo Crítico prizes, among others. He divides his time between Madrid and Iowa City, where he directs the Spanish-language creative writing MFA program at the University of Iowa.

Garth Greenwell is the author of three books of fiction, most recently Small Rain, which won the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award and the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award, and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His first novel, What Belongs to You, won the British Book Award for Debut of the Year, was longlisted for the National Book Award, and was a finalist for six other awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His second book, Cleanness, was a New York Times Notable Book and was nominated for several awards, including the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, the Gordon Burn Prize, and France’s Prix Sade.

Idra Novey is a novelist, poet, and translator. Her most recent novel Take What You Need was a New York Times Notable Book of 2023, a finalist for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, and chosen as a Barnes & Noble Fiction Pick. Her first novel Ways to Disappear was a finalist for the L.A. Times First Fiction Prize and a winner of the 2016 Brooklyn Public Library Prize and the Sami Rohr Prize. Her fiction and poetry have been translated into a dozen languages and she’s written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.

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Readings at Prairie Lights are sponsored by the Writing University.

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
15 South Dubuque Street, Iowa City, IA 52240
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