Award-winning novelist and short story writer Abby Frucht will read from and discuss her work at Cornell College on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at 7 p.m. in Shaw Lounge of The Commons. Admission is free.

Frucht has won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize for her collection of stories, "Fruit of the Month," two National Endowment of the Arts fellowships and several citations for notable books from the New York Times. Her novels are "Snap," "Licorice," "Life Before Death," "Polly's Ghost" and "Are You Mine?" Her works approach dark events through a playful perspective, exploring the mysterious, surreal and eccentric aspects of lives and their endings.

Her reviews and essays have appeared in the Village Voice, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and New York Times, among other publications. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and has taught for 10 years at the Vermont College M.F.A. in Writing Program. She lives in Wisconsin and is working on a new novel and a collection of stories involving children.

The event is sponsored by Cornell's English department.