ACCLAIMED AUTHOR BARRY HANNAH RETURNS TO ALMA MATER FOR READING

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Barry Hannah, the first student to receive an MFA in fiction writing from the Programs in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas, will return to the campus on Wednesday, Nov. 7, to read from his work. Hannah, who entered the MFA program in fiction writing in 1966, will highlight the program's 35^th anniversary with his visit.

After receiving both an MA in English and an MFA in Fayetteville, Hannah published his first novel, Geronimo Rex, which won the William Faulkner Prize for Writing and was nominated for the National Book Award. It has been followed by seven other novels, four short story collections and an abundance of other honors, including a second nomination for the National Book Award, a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize, the Arnold Gingrich Short Fiction Award and the Award for Literature from the American Insitute of Arts and Letters. Hannah's fiction has also earned him the respect of his peers in American literature. Larry McMurtry has called Hannah "the best fiction writer to appear in the South since Flannery O'Connor."

In addition to giving a reading during his visit, Hannah, who refers to the University of Arkansas as "my Harvard," will also meet individually with current fiction writing students at the University throughout the week of Nov. 5.

Hannah's latest novel is Yonder Stands Your Orphan. He lives in Oxford, Miss., where he is writer-in-residence at the University of Mississippi. Generously funded by the Walton Foundation, his reading takes place at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at Giffels Auditorium in Old Main. It is free and open to the public.

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 Elizabeth Bryer, publicity director of the Fall 2001 Reading Series (479) 575-4301, ebryer@uark.edu.