(Augustana College, Rock Island, IL) -Winner of the 2008 John Simmons Award for fiction from the University of Iowa Press for her book of short stories, One Dog Happy, Molly McNett reads in River Readings at Augustana on March 24.

In the story "One Dog Happy" McNett writes,

"...in that very moment?because, perhaps, the dog had been sensing this slackening, or, more likely, because it caught, just at that moment, a particular musk for which it lusted more than anything in the world?the dog gave a sudden sharp yank on the leash.

And that was that. The leash just slipped off of Mr. Bob's hand, and the dog was off, into the long grasses of the prairie. For a few moments, he could see it, the tail arcing like a dolphin's fin in the ocean of prairie grass, up and down, until suddenly the movement ceased."

Annie McCormick of Booklist writes, "In this heartbreaking collection, McNett breathes life into her very realistic characters, all of whom are struggling to play the unlucky hand they've been dealt. With each story firmly planted in the heartland of America, emotions run rampant as each copes with his or her poignant situation. A father buys his mail-order bride designer dresses, while his two daughters don thrift-store sweaters. Ellen imagines strange sexual scenarios to mentally escape her troubled life at home. ... In perhaps the most memorable piece of the collection, "Ozzie the Burro," two complete characters emerge from the page when a woman reveals the details of her troubled past through a series of letters written to a man she met on an Internet dating site. McNett subtly brings a touch of optimism and compassion to her stories from some improbable places."

McNett holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was a teaching-writing fellow. In 2008 and 2009 her stories were awarded the Peden Prize from the Missouri Review, given a special mention in the Pushcart Prize series, and named as one of the 100 Distinguished stories from the Best American Short Stories series, edited by Salmon Rushdie. McNett was recently awarded a fellowship to the MacDowell colony, and is at work on a novel in stories. She teaches English composition at Northern Illinois University.

The reading is free and open to the public and takes place Thursday, March 24, at 7:00 p.m. in Wallenberg auditorium in Denkmann Memorial Hall (3520 7^th Ave.) on the Augustana College campus. A reception follows the reading.

The River Readings at Augustana is sponsored by the Institute for Leadership and Service, the Thomas Tredway Library, and the English Department at Augustana College.

The River Readings at Augustana calendar:

April 14, Dora Malech, poetry