Alyson Hagy, who teaches at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, will read from her new novel, Boleto, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 13, in Prairie Lights Books and the University of Iowa Writing University website— www.writinguniversity.com.

Will Testerman is a young Wyoming horse trainer determined to make something of himself. Money is tight at the family ranch, where he's living again after a disastrous end to his job on the Texas show-horse circuit. He sees his chance with a beautiful quarter horse, a filly that might earn him a reputation, and spends his savings to buy her.

A starred review in Publishers Weekly called Boleto, a “beautiful tale of redemption and perseverance. In measured, textured prose, Hagy finesses the nuances of equestrian life, from the knowing twitch of the filly's ears to Will naming his horse 'Boleto' ('ticket'), signifying his hoped for success. Joining such resonant talents as Annie Proulx and Kent Haruf, Hagy is fast becoming a recognizable author of the American West."

Hagy is the author of Ghosts of Wyoming and Snow, Ashes. Ghosts of Wyoming won the High Plains Book Award for Fiction. Her stories have most recently appeared in Shenandoah, Five Points, and the Virginia Quarterly Review, and on National Public Radio. They have earned a Nelson Algren Prize, a Syndicated Fiction Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Hagy's story “Search Bay” also was included in Best American Short Stories 1997.