Novelist and short-story writer Rilla Askew will read from her new book, Kind of Kin, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

Kind of Kin is a comic yet heartfelt novel about people who want to do right and still do wrong, and people who do right in spite of themselves, as they try to help, protect, and provide for those they love most when a new state immigration law threatens an ordinary American family and throws a close-knit community into turmoil.

Askew graduated from the University of Tulsa with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater performance and went on to study creative writing at Brooklyn College, where she received an Master of Fine Arts in 1989. Askew has taught at Syracuse University, Brooklyn College, the University of Central Oklahoma, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

For more information or special accommodations to attend this reading, call Jan Weissmiller at Prairie Lights, 319-337-2681. For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events visit the new Arts Iowa website.