September 29, 2003 SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) - Scott Thybony, an archeologist and wilderness guide, will present a free, public reading of his work on Wednesday, Oct. 8, as part of Susquehanna University's Visiting Writers Series. The reading, which is made possible through The Marion and Horace Rogers Foundation, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Degenstein Center Theater. Thybony learned his story-telling skills from living with the Navajo and Inuit tribes. He is a well-known National Geographic expedition leader and has performed archeological surveys and ethno-historical studies in Wyoming during its best-weather months while studying, during the months of wind and snow, the effects of cabin fever on his wife and young child. He had received a grant from National Geographic to search for and document Native American cave paintings. Thybony's book of essays, Burntwater, was a PEN Center West finalist for creative nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews commented on Burntwater: "The author's love of the land is evident at every turn, and his essays deepen our understanding of both these mysterious places and of people who seek beauty within and without them." Thybony is also the author of Wildfire, Dry Rivers and Standing Rocks: A Word Finder for the American West, The Rockies: Pillar of a Continent, Canyon Country Parklands, and Arizona. Thybony is the second of seven writers scheduled to read at Susquehanna during the 2003-2004 academic year as part of the Visiting Writers Series, sponsored by The Writers' Institute. On Oct. 22, fiction writer and poet Ana Castillo will present a public reading of her work. Contact: Victoria Kidd 570-372-4119 #vk/0706#