SELINSGROVE, Pa. - Thomas Bailey, assistant professor of English and Gustave Weber professor in the humanities at Susquehanna University, has recently published "On Writing Short Stories." The book, published by Oxford University Press in January, is a collection of original essays by writers, including Bailey, on the art of writing a short story. He has just completed his second book, "A Short Story Writer's Companion," which is to be published in the spring of 2001.

Bailey earned a B.A. in English literature from Marshall University, an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in English literature from State University of New York Binghamton. He is the holder of the Winifred and Gustave Weber Professorship in the Humanities. Before coming to Susquehanna University, he taught in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University.

Bailey's responsibilities also include teaching in the Susquehanna University Writers' Institute, which was a good part of the reason he came to Susquehanna. He sees Susquehanna's writing major as "quite an opportunity for students." Bailey says "writing opportunities are exploding" in today's job market and the writing major gives students an added advantage -- the "tremendous power to be able to write well."

Copies of his first book, as well as "The Pushcart Prize Stories 2000," in which a story by Bailey appears, are available in the campus bookstore. #bh/1717#