OCTOBER 29, 2004

Award Winning Author to Speak at Mesa State

Grand Junction, CO - Guest speaker Melanie Rae Thon will be at Mesa State College on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in Saccomanno Lecture Hall for the Pinyon Press Writers Series, sponsored by Mesa State Lectures and Forums Committee.

Thon is the author of two novels, "Meteors in August" and "Iona Moon," and two story collections, "First, Body" and "Girls in the Grass." Her works have appeared in Paris Review, Story, The Best American Short Stories and Granta, which named her one of its "Best Young American Novelists." Thon has also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and, in 1997, won a Whiting Award.

Kirkus Reviews said this about Thon's work, "Brilliantly imagined and infused with a raw spirituality that cuts to the bone. Thon writes with lyric power about the lives of lost souls who nonetheless passionately believe in a God 'no longer capable of even the smallest miracles.'"

Originally from Montana, Thon has also taught at Ohio State University, Syracuse University, and Emerson College. She is currently teaching at the University of Utah.

Admission is free to this event. For more information, contact Diana Joseph at 970.248.1038.

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