Author Donald Harington, recognized by the Boston Globe as “one of America’s great contemporary authors,” will read from his latest novel, The Pitcher Shower, on the University of Missouri-Rolla campus on Friday, Sept. 9.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 3 p.m. in the Meramec/Gasconade Room of the Havener Center on the UMR campus. The UMR Bookstore will provide copies of the novel for signing after the reading.

Harington, a Distinguished Professor of art history at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, writes almost exclusively about the Ozarks.

“Don has been called ‘The Bard of the Ozarks’ and is certainly the best novelist to ever write about that region,” says Dr. Larry Vonalt, chair of UMR’s English and technical communication department.

Harington has written 13 novels about the Arkansas Ozarks, most centered around the fictional town of Stay More, Ark. His latest novel, The Pitcher Shower, tells the story of Landon “Hoppy” Boyd, a Stay More native who roams the Arkansas countryside showing early westerns from a trailer mounted on his truck, providing weekend entertainment for the locals.

For more information about Harington’s Sept. 9 reading call the UMR English and technical communication department at (573) 341-4681.