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KALAMAZOO, Mich.—An accomplished author and University of Michigan professor will visit the É«É«À² Michigan University campus later this month to take part in the Spring 2016 Gwen Frostic Reading Series.

Claire Vaye Watkins is a Guggenheim Fellow and assistant professor in the U-M Helen Zell Writers' Program and also co-directs the Mojave School, a free creative writing workshop for teenagers in rural Nevada. She will read from her works at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, in 157-159 Bernhard Center. Her presentation is free and open to the public.

Claire Vaye Watkins

Watkins earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada-Reno and master's degree from Ohio State University, where she was a Presidential Fellow. Her primary areas of interest are the short story and the novel, and she is the author of the books "Battleborn" and "Gold Flame Citrus." "Battleborn" won the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

Watkins was born in Bishop, California, and was raised in the Mojave Desert, first in Tecopa, California, and then across the state line in Pahrump, Nevada. Her stories and essays have appeared in Granta, Tin House, The Paris Review, One Story, Glimmer Train, Best of the West, Best of the Southwest, The New York Times and many other publications. A recipient of fellowships from the Sewanee and Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences, Watkins also was named one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35.

About the series

The Frostic Reading Series presents acclaimed creative writers from across the nation and beyond. Every year, a diverse range of readings that encompasses poetry, fiction, nonfiction and drama attract both campus and off-campus audiences.

For more information, visit wmich.edu/english/events/frostic.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.