Novelist Antonya Nelson, this fall's distinguished visiting writer in the creative writing program, will give a free public reading of her work at
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in the Ulrich Museum.

Nelson will be in residence Oct. 26-Nov.20, conducting classes and meeting with tutorial students in WSU's nationally recognized creative writing program.

Nelson's 1996 novel "Talking in Bed" was named one of the Top 10 Books of Fiction that year by The Detroit Free Press. It also won the Heartland Award from The Chicago Tribune and was a New York Times Notable Book. "In the Land of Men," one of her three collections of short stories, also was a New York Times Notable Book, in 1992. Her other novel is "Nobody's Girl" (1998); her other short stories collections are "Family Terrorists" (1994) and "The Expendibles" (1990).

When not writing or gathering awards, Nelson is an associate professor of English at New Mexico State University.

Nelson is coming back to familiar ground: She is the daughter of WSU professor emeritus of English F. William Nelson, who had a long career at WSU, and Susan Nelson, who was an instructor in the English department.