MARQUETTE, Mich.—Erin Celello, a Northern Michigan University graduate who secured a two-book contract with Penguin/NAL, will read from her debut novel on Wednesday, Nov. 2. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Brule Room of the University Center. It is free and open to the public.

In Celello’s Miracle Beach, “Vancouver Island’s mountains and wind-swept beaches form the backdrop for one family’s grief and the miracle that may help them heal. Macy Allen is an accomplished equestrienne with a tumultuous upbringing who has relied on her horses and her husband, Nash, to pull her through. But after Nash dies in a tragic accident, Macy learns devastating secrets about his life that shake her faith in their marriage and herself.”

Celello’s second novel, Learning to Stay, is due out in August 2012. She graduated from NMU’s master of fine arts program in creative writing and lives in Madison, Wis. She is a professor of creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Her appearance is sponsored by the Visiting Writers Series in the NMU English department, the MFA and MA programs in creative writing, Passages North literary magazine and Sigma Tau Delta.