TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Fiction writers Jonathan Lethem and Karen Joy Fowler will read from their original creative work on Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m., in Morgan Auditorium, as part of this year’s Bankhead Visiting Writers Series at The University of Alabama. The event is free and open to the public.

Fowler is the award-winning author of three novels and four books of short fiction. Her most recent novel is “Sister Noon.” Her novels “Sarah Canary” and “The Sweetheart Season” were named New York Times Notable Books. She received the 1999 World Fantasy Award for her short story collection “Black Glass: Short Fictions.” Her short fiction has earned her a Hugo nomination and a Campbell Award. She has also been the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a Visiting Coal Royalty Chair holder for the spring semester and will co-teach a course with Lethem while she visits the University.

Lethem is a Visiting Coal Royalty Chair holder for the spring semester at UA. He is the author of five novels. His most recent novel, “Motherless Brooklyn,” won the 1999 National Book Critics Award for Fiction. His first novel, “Gun, with Occasional Music,” received the 1995 Best First Novel Award, the Locus Award and was a finalist for the 1995 Nebula Award. Lethem’s other novels include: “Girl in Landscape,” “Amnesia Moon,” and “As She Climbed Across the Table.” He has published a novella, “This Shape We’re In,” and a collection of stories titled “The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye,” which won the 1997 World Fantasy Award.

The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series is made possible by an endowment from the Bankhead Foundation, and UA’s program in creative writing, Department of English, and College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, contact the creative writing program at 205/348-0766.