DURHAM, N.C. - Author Howard Norman will give a public reading at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, in the Rare Book Room at Perkins Library. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the reading.

Norman also will be the William Blackburn Visiting Fiction Writer-in-Residence at Duke Feb. 15-21.

"The longstanding Blackburn series of visiting fiction writers and poets constitutes something of an honor roll of contemporary American fiction and poetry," said Joe Ashby Porter, professor of English at Duke. "We try to get the best and most exciting fiction writers and poets to come visit.

"Norman is of interest partly because he's a fiction writer and poet. Norman's own fiction sort of fits into its own category. He's playing his own games and finding his own way in the universe of fiction."

In addition to the public reading, Norman will speak to students in creative writing and literature classes, as well as offer a creative writing master class.

Norman was twice nominated for The National Book Award in fiction, for "The Northern Lights," his first novel, and "The Bird Artist," his second, which is being made into a film. He is also the author of the novels "The Museum Guard," "The Haunting of L." and "Devotion," all three of which are under film options. He also has written a short story collection, multiple award-winning books for children and several travel memoirs.

Norman is a professor of English at the University of Maryland at College Park and a member of the faculty of the New York State Summer Writer's Institute. He has a forthcoming novel, "What Is Left The Daughter," (Houghton-Harcourt) and a 22-part essay, "On A Stanza By Robert Hass," about a yearly visit to the Pt. Reyes National Seashore, bird life and other subjects.

Norman is the recipient of many fellowships and literary awards, including a Lannan Award in fiction, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an Ingram Merrill Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.