FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington BFA in Creative Writing program will present American author

as the next reader in its Visiting Writers Series. Van den Berg will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, in The Landing in the UMF Olsen Student Center. The reading is free and open to the public and will be followed by a signing by the author.

Van den Berg is the author of “The Isle of Youth,” named “Best Book of 2013″ by over a dozen venues, including NPR, The Boston Globe and O, The Oprah Magazine. It also received the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and The Bard Fiction Prize.

Her 2009 collection of stories, “What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us,” was a Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection and, along with “The Isle of Youth,” was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.

The recipient of an O. Henry Award and a Pushcart Prize, her work has been anthologized in “The Best American Short Stories,” “The Best American Mystery Stories” and “The Best American Nonrequired Reading.” Her first novel, “Find Me,” will be published by FSG in February.

A native of Florida, she lives in the Boston area and teaches fiction at Colby College.

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