Two West Virginia University English professors will give a reading Thursday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Robinson Reading Room of the downtown library.

The reading was originally scheduled to fall on the day before Valentine’s Day but was postponed because of bad weather. Undaunted, the writers will still read about love—and, befitting of the rescheduling, its aftermath.

The reading is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The readers are Mark Brazaitis, a professor in the Department of English, and Ethel Morgan Smith, an associate professor in the Department of English.

Brazaitis is the author of six books, including “The Incurables: Stories,” winner of the 2012 Richard Sullivan Prize and the 2013 Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Prose, and “The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala,” winner of the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Award. His latest book is “Julia & Rodrigo,” winner of the 2012 Gival Press Novel Award. It’s a Romeo-and-Juliet story set in Guatemala during the country’s civil war.

Smith is the author of “From Whence Cometh My Help: The African American Community at Hollins College,” and “Reflections of the Other: Being Black in Germany.” Her essay “Love Means Nothing” was the winner of the 2005 Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Award. Smith has published in national and international journals, including “Callaloo and African American Review.”
“We understand some people didn’t hear about the original reading’s cancellation and showed up,” Brazaitis said. “We owe them an extra special reading. I promise we’ll make good.”

-WVU-

dm/2/17/14

CONTACT: Mark Brazaitis, WVU Department of English
(304) 293-9707, Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu

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