Free author readings at Queens University

Queens University's low-residency MFA holds a series of free readings this month by faculty members. All are in Sykes Auditorium on campus.

The series begins at 8:15 p.m. Sunday, May 23 with a reading by Pinckney Benedict, author of "Miracle Boy and Other Stories," being published this month by North Carolina's Press 53. He'll be followed by Cathy Smith Bowers, a longtime Queens professor who was recently named North Carolina's poet laureate.

Charlotte's Kim Wright, author of "Love in Mid Air," kicks off a second reading at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, May 25. Her debut novel, set in Charlotte, tells the story of a woman struggling to decide whether to stay in a safe but loveless marriage. David Christensen, a Canadian director and producer, will follow.

Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, author of "Appropriate," "The Change," and "Neighbors," will start the final readings in the series, 8 p.m. Friday May 28. Nathaniel Rich, senior editor at The Paris Review and author of the novel, "The Mayor's Tongue," will follow.