Crystal Wilkinson, author of the short story collections Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street, will give a public reading at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1, in Bluffton University's Musselman Library.

Wilkinson, a faculty member in the Master of Fine Arts writing program at Spalding University in Louisville, Ky., is currently a visiting professor and writer in residence at Morehead (Ky.) State University.

Her work has been published in several anthologies and literary journals, and Blackberries, Blackberries was named Best Debut Fiction by Today's Librarian magazine. The 2002 recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature, she is a member of a Lexington, Ky.-based writing collective, The Affrilachian Poets.

Wilkinson was invited to Bluffton by Dr. Susan Carpenter, assistant professor of English. This semester, Carpenter is teaching African-American literature and creative writing courses, in which she felt it important to have her students meet an African-American author and fiction writer. Wilkinson is the second such visitor, following Dr. Frank Dobson Jr., who came to Bluffton in September.

"What I believe to be most beneficial about the public reading is that it gives the audience an opportunity to gain a first-hand experience of Wilkinson's work from her own perspective," said Carpenter. The audience will also have an opportunity to discuss the author's work and ask questions.