FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The U of A Program in Creative Writing and Translation in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is proud to welcome novelist Howard Norman as its 2018-19 Walton Visiting Writer in Fiction.

Norman will give a free public reading of his work at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Norman is a three-time winner of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and a winner of the Lannan Award for fiction. He is the author of the novels The Museum Guard, My Darling Detective, and Devotion. His 1987 novel, The Northern Lights, was nominated for a National Book Award, as was his 1994 novel, The Bird Artist, which The New York Times describes as, "a bewitching little novel that glows like a night light in the reader's mind." Primarily set in Canada's Maritime Provinces, his books have been translated into twelve languages. Norman is on the M.F.A. faculty at the University ofMaryland.

Each year, the Walton Visiting Writers series in the Program in Creative Writing and Translation brings esteemed authors in poetry, fiction and literary translation to the U of A to give free public readings and to work with graduate students in the creative writing M.F.A. program. Past Walton Writers include Natalie Diaz, Chris Abani, Caryl Phillips, Franz Wright, Esther Allen and Karen Tei Yamashita.

This event is made possible by the Program in Creative Writing and Translation, the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English, the  Honors College, the Fayetteville Public Library, the Walton Family Foundation, and the James E. and Ellen Wadley Roper Professorship in Creative Writing.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.