Waldorf College’s Distinguished Visiting Writer Series welcomes author Tricia Currans-Sheehan on Oct. 7 for a public reading from her book “The River Road: A Novel in Linked Stories.”

“Tricia’s prize-winning collection should appeal particularly to people here in the Forest City area, since it follows an Iowa farm girl trying to make sense of life as her mother deserts her and her father struggles along,” said Tim Bascom, Waldorf’s director of creative writing. “It’s a book that captures the surprising, even unsettling complexities of rural life in Midwestern America.”

Currans-Sheehan’s work has appeared in many literary journals, including Connecticut Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, and Fiction, among others.

A professor of English and writing at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, she was the founding editor of the Briar Cliff Review, now in its 26th year of publication. The literary journal features poetry, fiction and nonfiction from emerging and established writers and has received numerous awards.

Community members are welcome to attend the public reading of “The River Road” in the Small Pit classroom just off the Waldorf College Atrium at 6 p.m. There is no cost to attend.

People interested in learning more about Currans-Sheehan’s editorial work with the Briar Cliff Review can attend a free talk at 3 p.m. in Room 201 of the Luise V. Hanson Library.