Eli Cranor, Arkansas Tech University writer in residence and instructor in the ATU Department of English and World Languages, will offer a lecture entitled “Required Reading: How and Why Fiction Writers Read” at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
The talk will take place in Witherspoon Hall room 127, 407 West Q Street in Russellville. Admission will be free and open to the public.
Cranor’s debut novel, “Don’t Know Tough,” won the Peter Lovesey First Crime Novel Contest. It was named to USA Today’s list of Best Books of the Year and one of the New York Times’ Best Crime Novels of 2022. Mystery Writers of America selected Cranor as the winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel by an American author.
Publisher Soho Crime describes Cranor’s second novel, “Ozark Dogs,” as a “Southern thriller” in which “two families grapple with the aftermath of a murder in their small Arkansas town.”
“Ozark Dogs” was published in April 2023 and has since become a national bestseller.
Cranor played college football at Florida Atlantic University and Ouachita Baptist University. He played professional football and was a high school football coach. Today, he lives in his hometown with his wife and children.
Cranor’s weekly slice of life column, “Where I’m Writing From,” is published by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and his craft column, “Shop Talk,” appears at www.crimereads.com.
Learn more about the ATU College of Arts and Humanities at www.atu.edu/humanities.
