FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington will host fiction writer and poet Shana Youngdahl as the final visiting author of the spring 2026 Visiting Writers series, with a public reading scheduled for April 16.

Youngdahl will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. in The Landing at the Olsen Student Center. The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing.

Youngdahl, a professor of creative writing at Lindenwood University, is the author of the novel “A Catalog of Burnt Objects,” published in 2025 and inspired by the 2018 wildfires in Paradise, California. Her debut novel, “As Many Nows as I Can Get,” was recognized as a best book of the year by Seventeen, the New York Public Library and Kirkus.

She has also published two poetry collections and holds a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Minnesota.

The Visiting Writers series is sponsored by UMF’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. The program is the only Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in Maine and one of only two in New England. It offers workshop-style classes led by practicing writers, with a focus on poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Small class sizes, individual conferencing and portfolio development are designed to help students refine their work under the guidance of published faculty.

Students in the program can also pursue internships for real-world writing and publishing experience, including opportunities with The Sandy River Review, a student-run literary magazine, and The Farmington Flyer, a university newspaper.