For Immediate Release

Date:  August 24, 2006

BLOOMSBURG—Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania will be filled with stories from three authors whose work has appeared on the New York Times best sellers list, in The New Yorker and in several literary journals and anthologies. 

The Big Dog Reading Series, hosted by the English department, will open with author John Hoppenthaler on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. in the Kehr Union Multicultural Center. His poetry has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including “Ploughshares,” “Poet Lore” and “September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond.” He is currently editing a collection of essays and interviews on the poetry of Jean Valentine.

The series will also feature Tawni O’Dell on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Kehr Union Hideaway. She is the author of two novels, “Back Roads,” a New York Times best seller listed on Oprah’s Book Club, and “Coal Run.” O’Dell often writes about characters and landscapes of small-town Pennsylvania. Her latest novel, “Sister Mine,” will be published in spring 2007.  

Junot Diaz, author of “Drown,” will be part of the series on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and “Best American Short Stories.” Diaz was the recipient of the 2002 Pen/Malamud Award and a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. He is currently an associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

All readings in the series are open to the public free of charge. Funding for this year’s series comes from the BU English department, the College of Liberal Arts and the Chancellor’s Office of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

For more information regarding the series, contact English faculty members Jerry Wemple, (570) 389-4881, or Claire Lawrence, (570) 389-4658.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students and offers 58 bachelor’s, 16 master’s and one doctoral degree.

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