ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University's Program in Creative Writing will host a benefit reading by four critically acclaimed writers at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, in Irvine Auditorium.

This year's program, which is sponsored locally by Ohio University's Program in Creative Writing, features fiction writer and playwright Jose Delgado, poets Elizabeth Dodd and Wayne Dodd, and fiction writer Jack Matthews.

All proceeds from the $5 admission donation will go to the Southeastern Ohio Food Bank's Second Harvest, a food distribution program serving Athens, Hocking, Perry, Vinton, Jackson, Gallia, Meigs, Morgan and Washington counties. The Second Harvest of Southeast Ohio Food Bank participates in vital programs to feed the hungry. Marilyn Sloan, coordinator for the food bank, said they have distributed 4.5 million pounds of food so far this year and served approximately 100,000 families.

Delgado is an Ohio University associate professor of Spanish. He teaches language and literature courses and directs Spanish-speaking theater. Delgado is the author of De locuras familia y sexo. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Segundo Foro Internacional por el fomento del libro y la lectura, El duende and Noticias.

Elizabeth Dodd is a professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program at Kansas State University. Her work has appeared in journals such as The Georgia Review, Seneca Review, Ascent and American Literary Review. She has published three volumes of poetry, Like Memory, Caverns and, most recently, Archetypal Light. Her book, Asylum and Other Essays: Journeys Toward a Usable Past, is forthcoming from Utah University Press. She received her bachelor's degree from Ohio University in 1983 and is the daughter of poet Wayne Dodd.

Wayne Dodd, distinguished professor of English at Ohio University, has published eight books of poetry, including The Blue Salvages, Of Desire and Disorder, Echoes of the Unspoken and Sometimes Music Rises. His work has appeared in such literary journals as The American Scholar, the Denver Quarterly and The Nation. Dodd served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Ohio University and editor of The Ohio Review. His next book of poetry, IS, will be published by BOA Editions.

Matthews, distinguished professor of English at Ohio University, is the author of more than 20 books, including Reading Matter: A Rabid Bibliophile's Adventure Among Old and Rare Books, published by Oak Knoll Press in 2000. His work has appeared in such periodicals as The New York Times, The Nation, The Yale Review and Mademoiselle. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ohio Arts Council Major Artist Award and the Sherwood Anderson Award. His fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards.

Tickets for Writers Harvest may be purchased at the door of Irvine Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. the day of the reading. A book signing and reception will follow the event. For more information, contact the Special Programs Office at 593-4181.