Pauls Toutonghi

Pauls Toutonghi is Professor of English at Lewis & Clark College, specializing in fiction and creative nonfiction writing. A first-generation American born to an Arab father and Latvian mother, his work explores themes of displacement, immigrant identity, and artistic resilience. He holds a PhD in Postcolonial Literature from Cornell University and has received fellowships including the Pushcart Prize and Hawthornden Castle residency.

His research examines:

• Narrative structures in immigrant literature
• Musical motifs in diasporic storytelling
• Intergenerational trauma transmission

Published works include The Refugee Ocean (2023), tracing interconnected refugee journeys from Lebanon to Cuba to America, and Dog Gone (2016), a nonfiction exploration of human-animal bonds. His shorter works appear in The New Yorker, New York Times, Granta, and Tin House.

Professor Toutonghi serves as faculty advisor for student writing projects and mentors graduate students in creative writing. His courses include Fiction Writing, Nonfiction Writing, and Literature of Migration.