Novelist to speak

Award-winning author Ben Percy, assistant professor of English at Iowa State University, will read from his works as a guest of Northwestern College's Deep Song Reading Series on Tuesday, March 22, at 7 p.m. in Te Paske Gallery of the Korver Visual Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Percy received the Plimpton Prize in 2007 for his book of stories, Refresh, Refresh, published by Graywolf. Also the author of a novel, The Wilding (Graywolf, 2009), and another book of stories, The Language of Elk (Carnegie Mellon, 2006), Percy has won a Pushcart Prize and the Whiting Award.

Filmmaker James Ponsoldt adapted Refresh, Refresh into a screenplay scheduled to begin filming late this year. The book was also adapted into a graphic novel, which was listed by USA Today as one of the top 10 comics/graphic novels of the year. Percy's second novel, Red Moon, will be published by Grand Central/Hachette next year. The Gotham Group has bought the film rights to the werewolf tale.

Percy's fiction and nonfiction have been read on National Public Radio, performed at Symphony Space, and published by Esquire, Men's Journal, the Paris Review, the Chicago Tribune, Glimmer Train, and Best American Short Stories.

In addition to teaching creative writing at Iowa State, Percy is also on the faculty of Pacific University's M.F.A. in writing program. Raised in the high desert of central Oregon, Percy earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University and a bachelor's degree from Brown University.

The Deep Song Reading Series will also feature poet Christie Hodgen on April 18.