ATHENS, Ohio -- Fiction writer Kiki DeLancey will read from her work on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Building Recital Hall on the Ohio University campus.

The reading is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Program in Creative Writing of the Department of English.

DeLancey is the author of "Coal Miner's Holiday," a debut collection of short stories set in the Appalachian coal towns along the Ohio River.

A native of southern Ohio and former executive vice president of Marietta Coal Company, DeLancey is a self-taught writer whose words ring true.

In his New York Times review William Ferguson says, "The hard facts of mining life -- sudden layoffs, accidents, black lung, early death -- underlie all the action and beside them everything else seems trivial."

DeLancey received the Mississippi Review's 2001 prize for short fiction for her story "The Mystery of George Jones" and the 1996 Boston Review Fiction Prize for Jules Jr. Michael Jules Jr.

DeLancey lives in Cambridge, Ohio, where she writes and is a part-time investment banker. For more information, please contact the department's Special Programs Office at (740) 593-4181.