University of Pittsburgh Book Center to Host Meet and Speak With Author Priscilla A. Rodd Sept. 21

PITTSBURGH-Author and University of Pittsburgh alumna Priscilla A. Rodd will take part in a Meet and Speak session and will sign copies of her new book, Surviving Mae West (Vandalia Press, 2006), at noon Sept. 21, University Book Center, 4000 Fifth Ave., Oakland.

Raised in a Quaker, West Virginian home, Rodd has lived her adult life in New York City and New Orleans. She is known for her ability to skillfully portray urban and rural life, and Rodd's uncensored, controversial novel, Surviving Mae West, is filled with prose that renowned writer Annie Dillard says "echoes the beauty of the landscapes she writes about."

Rodd received the Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction writing from Pitt in 2002. She also has taught creative writing and composition at Pitt, Duquesne University, and Shepherd University, W.Va. She currently teaches creative writing in Charles Town, W.Va., where she resides with her husband and two sons.

This free public event is sponsored by Pitt's University Book Center and Department of English, as well as the West Virginia University Press. For more information, call 412-648-1453.

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