By Rebecca Wyatt Thomas, OU Web Writer
Fiction writer and award-winner author Kellie Wells will read “Rabbit Catcher of Kingdom Come” from her forthcoming book “The Fair Tale Review” on Monday, March 31 at 4 p.m. in the Oakland Center Gold Rooms. Wells said the long short story is a retelling of the “Pied Piper” fairy tale.
“Reading stories is a different way to experience the written word. It’s a different way to experience literature. Sometimes people respond differently to things when they hear them out loud,” said Wells of her decision to share her work by reading. “It’s nice for the writer because you write in isolation, so when you read, you get to interact with the audience in a way you can’t when writing.”
Wells is the author of the collection of short fiction “Compression Scars” and the novel “Skin.” Wells’ works has appeared in various literary journals, including “The Kenyon Review,” “Ninth Letter,” “The Gettysburg Review” and “Prairie Schooner.” For her work, she was the 2001 recipient of the Flannery O’Connor Award, the 2002 Rona Jaffe Prize and the Great Lakes Colleges Association’s New Writer’s Award in fiction for “Compression Scars.”
A professor in the creative writing Master of Fine Arts program at Washington University in St. Louis, Wells is teaching at Western Michigan University for a semester.
Wells often reads at universities, book stores and to book groups when invited.
“Universities are among the best venues to read at. It’s an environment where everybody expects that they are going to be challenged and learn something new. I always get really great questions. Students have a natural curiosity and that makes it really fun for me,” Wells said.
The reading is sponsored by the Department of English. For more information, call (248) 370-2250.