Alexandra Chasin will read from her books Brief and Kissed By at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 14, 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.

A screening of Composer and I, a 22-minute film by Chasin and Cathy Lee Crane, will follow the reading.

In Brief, a funny, angry, hyper-articulate monologue, an art vandal makes a passionate plea to a judge: you, the reader. The vandal has been charged with defacing a masterpiece of modern art, and asks you to consider the following argument: maybe the way we turn out is less the fault of our parents and more the effect of larger cultural and historical influences. Is history the real culprit? Rich with references to the high art, mass culture, political ideologies, and military maneuvers of the post-war era, from the Cold War to the introduction of television, Brief chronicles the formation of an art vandal, until the story explodes in an enactment of temporary insanity.

Chasin received a doctorate in modern thought and literature at Stanford University in 1993, and a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing at Vermont College in 2002. She is the author of Selling Out: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market, a study of the relation between the LGBT “market” and the LGBT social movement, and Kissed By, a collection of short, formally innovative fiction.

Crane is a media artist working in the fields of experimental fiction and documentary. Composer and I is an adaptation of a short story of the same name published in Kissed By.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, 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.