Five women writers associated with West Virginia Universitys Department of English will give a reading entitledLove and Other Answersin honor of Valentines Day at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, at the Blue Moose Café on Walnut Street.

The writers are Gail Adams, Sarah Cullison, Natalie Dobson, Katy Ryan and Mary Ann Samyn. The readingwhich is free and open to the publicis sponsored by the WVU Department of English and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Youd want to spend an evening listening to any one of these talented writers,said the events organizer, Mark Brazaitis, an associate professor of English at WVU .To hear them all read in one night�€thats a treat worthy of Valentines Day.

The readers will offer their audience an evening full of spontaneity, energy, reverence, reflection and laughs,he added.

Adams is the author ofThe Purchase of Order,a collection of short stories that won the Flannery OConnor Award for Short Fiction in 1985. More than 25 of her stories have appeared in literary journals, including The Kenyon Review and Story Quarterly.

Cullison, a graduate of the masters of fine arts program at Cornell University, has published stories in Orchid, North Dakota Quarterly, Sonora Review, The Nebraska Review and other literary journals. She is a former editorial assistant at Zoetrope: All Story, the literary magazine founded byGodfatherdirector Francis Ford Coppola.

Dobson owns one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from WVU s masters of fine arts in creative writing program. The author of haunting, riveting prose, she is considered a writer to watch.

Ryan is a poet and short story writer whose publishing credits include The Denver Quarterly. She is also founder of the Appalachian Prison Book Project whose central mission is to distribute books free of charge to women and men in prison, principally in West Virginia.

Mary Ann Samyn is the author of four collections of poetry:Purr(2005),Rooms by the Sea(winner of the 1994 Kent State UP/Wick Chapbook Prize),Captivity Narrative(winner of the 1999 Ohio State UP/The Journal Prize), andInside the Yellow Dress(a 2001 New Issues Press/Green Rose Selection).

For more information on the reading, contact Brazaitis at 304-293-3107, ext. 33402 or mbrazait@wvu.edu .