American Book Award winner Janisse Ray, left, will give a free reading at 8 p.m. Nov. 10 in the University Union, Silver Eagle Suite A.

Ray’s 2000 award winner,  Ecology of Cracker Childhood, combines memoir with natural history in an examination of the complex relationship between rural communities, poverty and ecology. Ray, a Georgia native, is the author of another memoir, Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home and Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land.

Ray’s visit is part of the Department of English Visiting Writers Series and the 2009-10 One Book, One Community program. The program is an annual yearlong reading discussion focusing on a theme. This year’s selection is Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future by Jeff Goodell, who spoke at UNT Oct. 6. 

Contact Corey Marks or 940-565-2126 or Ruby Al-Qasem, creative writing assistant, or 214-240-5682.

(Photo courtesy of Milkweed Editions, MInneapolis.)