MARQUETTE, Mich.—Award-winning author Matt Bell, Northern Michigan University’s newest fiction writer and member of its creative writing faculty, will read from his upcoming debut novel, “In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods.” The reading will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in Room 167 Gries Hall. It is free and open to the public. Bell will be available for a question-and-answer session and his previous books will be available for signing.
         The book jacket reads, “In this epic, mythical novel, a newlywed couple escapes the busy confusion of their homeland for a distant and almost uninhabited lakeshore.  They plan to live there simply, to fish the lake, to trap the nearby woods, and build a house upon the dirt between where they can raise a family. But. . . .”

Bell is also the author of Cataclysm Baby, a novella, and How They Were Found, a collection of stories. His fiction has appeared in Conjunctions, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Gulf Coast, and has been selected for inclusion in anthologies such as Best American Mystery Stories 2010 and Best American Fantasy. He is the Senior Editor at Dzanc Books, where he also edits  the literary magazine The Collagist.

 This event is sponsored by MFA and MA creative writing programs in NMU’s Department of English, Passages North literary magazine, and Sigma Tau Delta. Light refreshments will be served.