Pauls Toutonghi

Pauls Harijs Toutonghi (born 1976)^[1] is a first-generation American fiction and non-fiction writer. He was born in Seattle, Washington,^[1] to immigrant parents. His mother emigrated from Latvia,^[2] his father emigrated from Egypt and was of Syrian descent.^[3][4][5]

His first novel, Red Weather, was published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books in 2006.^[6] His second, Evel Knievel Days, was published by Random House/Crown in 2012.^[7]

Red Weather was widely—and favorably—reviewed.^[8] Toutonghi has published work in Sports Illustrated, The Burnside Review, Glimmer Train, The Boston Review, One Story Magazine, and The New Yorker.^[9] His story, "Regeneration" won a Pushcart Prize in 2000.^[10] His 2016 non-fiction narrative, Dog Gone: A Lost Pet's Extraordinary Journey and the Family Who Brought Him Home, was the source for the 2023 Netflix film, Dog Gone.^[11]

Toutonghi received his MFA in poetry from Cornell University in 2003, followed by a PhD in English Literature in 2006. After his first novel was published, he moved from Brooklyn, New York to Portland, Oregon, where he now teaches as a Professor of English at Lewis and Clark College, specializing in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Writing.^[12]