Novelist, short story writer and professor Ron Carlson will read his fiction at the University of Virginia Bookstore on Thursday at 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Carlton, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, is originally from Salt Lake City, where he attended the University of Utah for his master’s degree in English. After teaching at Arizona State University, he made a transition to University of California, Irvine, where he is co-director for the Master of Fine Arts Program in Writing.

During his weeklong stay as a visiting writer at the U.Va. Department of English, creative writing students in U.Va.’s M.F.A. program will have the opportunity to learn from his work and consult with him on their pieces.

Carlson’s most recent work, “The Hotel Eden: Stories,” is scheduled for release Nov. 25. He is also the author of “Return to Oakpine: A Novel,” “Ron Carlson Writes a Story” and “Five Skies,” among dozens of other works.

In addition to being cited in  “The Best American Short Stories” for “100 Distinguished Stories of the Year” more than 12 times over the past three decades, Carlson has also received the McGinnis Award for fiction and the Aspen Literary Award.

The Rea Visiting Writers Series is funded through the Dungannon Foundation in memory of Michael Rea, an ardent supporter of the arts and U.Va.

— by Ashley Patterson