By Kelley Bozeman

Authors Wendell Berry, James Baker Hall, Bobbie Ann Mason, Ed McClanahan and Gurney Norman will read from their works at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Concert Hall of the Singletary Center for the Arts..

Oct. 17, 2001 (Lexington, Ky.) -- As part of its yearlong celebration, "Celebrating Creative Writing at UK: A Half-Century of Excellence," the University of Kentucky's Creative Writing program is featuring Kentucky writers Wendell Berry, James Baker Hall, Bobbie Ann Mason, Ed McClanahan and Gurney Norman at a reading of their work on Thursday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m., in the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

All five writers began their literary apprenticeships in creative writing classes at UK between the years 1952 and 1958 and published their early work in the campus literary magazine, Stylus.

Collectively, the writers have published more than 60 novels, books of short stories, poems, essays and autobiographies. The five writers have remained friends for more than 40 years.

Berry, Hall, Norman and McClanahan have all taught creative writing at UK and have each held Stegner Fellowships in creative writing at Stanford University. Mason earned her doctorate at the University of Connecticut and accepted a post as UK's first Writer in Residence this year.

The celebration is co-sponsored by UK's Appalachian Center and the UK Office of African-American Affairs.