West Virginia native and author Lee Maynard will read excerpts from his renowned novels Screaming with the Cannibals and Crum Wednesday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Gold Ball Room of the West Virginia University Mountainlair. Both books have been published by the WVU Press .

Maynard was born and raised in Wayne County in the small mining town of Crum. Both of his novels focus on a young man’s rebellion against the people and place which surrounded his life and about the need to reject the comfort and familiarity of home in order to find a place in the larger world.

Maynard has been criticized for his irreverent shocking style, but Crum has become an underground cult classic praised for its humor, craft and form.

Another critically acclaimed West Virginia author Meredith Sue Willis had this to say about Maynard’s first novel:Each time I read Lee Maynard’s Crum , I ask myself, why is this foul-mouthed, sexist, scatological, hillbilly-stereotyping novel one of my all-time favorites?

A panel discussion and reception will follow the reading which is free and open to the public. Both novels will be offered for sale at the event.

For more information, contact the WVU Press at 304-293-8400 or visithttp://www.wvupress.com