Porter Shreve and Bich Nguyen

Denison University’s Beck Lecture Series will bring two authors, Porter Shreve and Bich Nguyen, for a reading at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21, in the Barney Davis Board Room (200 West Loop). The event is free and open to the public.

Shreve directs the creative writing program at Purdue University and is the author of three novels; his most recent book is “When the White House Was Ours.” Shreve has coedited six anthologies and published fiction, nonfiction, op-eds and book reviews in many journals and magazines, including Salon, The Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Nguyen’s novel “Short Girls” was published in 2009 and was named a best book of the year by Library Journal. Her memoir-in-essays, “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner,” was published in 2007 and received the PEN/Jerard Award from the PEN American Center and was a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2007, a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book, an Asian American Literature Award finalist, and the Great Michigan Read selection for 2009-2010. Shreve and Nguyen are husband and wife.