(UPDATED 9/22/08Prior to the reading, the movieWonder Boyswill be shown at 5 p.m. in the Rhododendron Room, Mountainlair.)

An acclaimed author and West Virginia University alumnus who was the inspiration for the main character in the book and movieWonder Boyswill give a reading at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom.

Chuck Kinder will sign copies of his books following the reading, which is sponsored by the WVU Department of English and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences . The event is free and open to the public.

Prior to the reading, Kinder will be presented the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences 2008 Alumni Recognition Award . The award honors Eberly alumni who have gone on to successful careers after receiving a broad arts and sciences education.

Kinder is a professor of English and director of the writing program at the University of Pittsburgh. He has written three novelsHoneymooners: A Cautionary Tale,The Silver GhostandSnakehunterand the memoirLast Mountain Dancer: Hard Earned Lessons in Love, Loss and Honky-Tonk Outlaw Life.

He earned both his bachelors and masters degrees in English and creative writing from WVU in 1965 and 1967, respectively. He completed two years of graduate study at Stanford University as an Edith Mirrellees Writing Fellow.

Following his study, he was appointed to a three-year position as a Jones Lecturer in Fiction at Stanford. He has been a writer-in-residence at the University of California at Davis and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He has lectured at Casa delle Letterature and the Universita La Sopienze in Rome and the Scuola Holden in Turino, Italy.

Before he began lecturing, Kinder held numerous jobs, including coal miner, moonshiner, bartender, bouncer, prizefighter, circus performer, tango instructor, whitewater river guide, professional cook, cowboy and itinerant college professor. He also frequently performed and toured with The Deliberate Strangers, an alternative country outlaw band.

In 2000, the appearance of the movie Wonder Boys elevated Kinder to cult status when Michael Douglas played the role of University of Pittsburgh creative writing teacher Grady Trippa character based on Kinder. Michael Chabon, author of the book on which the movie is based, was Kinders student. The character of James Lear, played by Tobey Maguire, is based on Chabon.

Kinders other awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Grant in Fiction, a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Award in Fiction, a Dorothy&Granville Hicks Residence in Literature from the Yaddo Foundation and an Appalachian Heritage Denny C. Plattner First Place Award for Nonfiction.