October 11, 2001 SELINSGROVE, Pa. - Andre Dubus III, whose book House of Sand and Fog was selected for the Oprah Winfrey Book Club in November 2000, will give a free, public reading in Susquehanna University's Degenstein Center Theater Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m. Dubus will then address area high school students the following day as part of Susquehanna's Writing-in-Action Day, an annual event attended by more than 200 students. "Dubus is one of those rare writers who can make you turn pages as if you were reading a thriller while he's developing characters and creating situations that stay with you long after you put the book down," says Gary Fincke, professor of English and director of Susquehanna's Writers' Institute. The selection of Dubus' novel by the Oprah Winfrey show propelled House of Sand and Fog up The New York Times best sellers list, with more than 1.5 million copies now in print. Publishers Weekly named House of Sand and Fog on its list of the best books of 1999, saying, "Dubus's chronicle of the American Dream gone awry is distinguished by his sympathetic delineation of lower-middle class life." Dubus has won numerous literary prizes and distinctions, including the Pushcart Prize and the National Magazine Award for Fiction. Additionally, Dubus' previous novel, Bluesman, was named by the Library Journal as one of the best books of 1993. Dubus is the son of the acclaimed writer Andre Dubus. In an interview in the Lowell (Mass.) Sun, Dubus said of his father, "His career was growing as I was growing up. He moved out when I was 10. I got encouragement from teachers who told me I was a good writer, but I never felt I would be one. Eventually, I was pulled to it." Dubus served last year as the first Jack Kerouac Writer in Residence at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Contact: Sam Alcorn 570-372-4119 #sa/404#