ECC welcomes author to reading series event

Author Tony Ardizzone will be the first guest of the 2011-2012 Writers Center Reading Series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in the ECC Arts Center, Room VPA 191D, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Ardizzone is a Chicago native and the author of seven books, most recently the novels “The Whale Chaser” and “In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu.” He is also editor of the anthology “The Habit of Art: Best Stories from the Indiana University Fiction Workshop.”

Ardizzone's stories and essays have appeared in more than 40 literary magazines, including TriQuarterly, The Georgia Review, Chicago Review and The Carolina Quarterly.

His short fiction has received the Pushcart Prize, the Lawrence Foundation Award and the Bruno Arcudi Literature Prize. Ardizzone is currently the chancellor's professor of English at Indiana University, Bloomington.

A pre-reading dinner with the author will be at 5:30 p.m. For reservations, contact Rachael Tecza at rtecza@elgin.edu or (847) 214-7578. Copies of Ardizzone's work also will be available for sale and signing at the event.