The Little Lights of Town

Stories of resilience, belonging, and the quiet beauty of life on the edge of the wild.

In The Little Lights of Town, acclaimed poet and memoirist Jonathan Johnson turns to fiction, bringing to life the rugged landscapes and tightly knit communities of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Against the backdrop of Lake Superior’s cold, untamed shores, his characters navigate love, loss, and the relentless pull of home.

From those who choose to stay despite the ever-present shadow of isolation to those searching for connection in a land where nature looms larger than life, these stories illuminate the quiet urgencies of human existence. With prose as lyrical as it is unflinching, Johnson visualizes a place where the past lingers in the streets, and where even in the darkest winters, little lights continue to shine.

Jonathan Johnson is a poet, author, and MFA professor at Eastern Washington University. His poems have been published widely in magazines and anthologies, appeared in Best American Poetry, and heard on NPR. His previous works include three books of poetry, Mastodon, 80% Complete, In the Land We Imagined Ourselves, and May Is an Island, as well as two memoirs and a play. He migrates between his hometown of Marquette, Michigan; the coastal Scottish Highlands; and the American Northwest.