Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout at Queens Thursday

There's been a last-minute substitution: This morning, I posted a blog about Queens University's Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing.

The program is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free reading featuring alumna and faculty on Thursday, Oct. 20. Jonathan Dee, whose novel, "The Privileges," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was to be among the attendees.

Queens folks have just told me that Dee can't make it. But here's the good news: Elizabeth Strout is coming in his place. Strout won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for "Olive Kitteridge."

Everything else remains the same. The reading begins at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in Sykes Auditorium. Other faculty readers include poet and nonfiction writer Rebecca McClanahan, author of "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings," and poet Morri Creech, author of "Field Knowledge."

The reading also features the work of three MFA graduates: Jessica Handler, author of the memoir "Invisible Sisters"; Susan Meyers, author of the poetry collection "Keep and Give Away"; and Susan Woodring, whose novel, "Goliath," will be published in 2012.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, serves as the opening event for the first annual Queens Writing Symposium, which continues through Friday, Oct. 21. It includes a panel on publishing and master classes taught by MFA faculty and that offer writers the chance to revise their manuscripts for publication. A morning session and luncheon is $99. The master classes are an additional $149. Here's a full schedule.