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CORVALLIS - The author of a memoir about the history of a poverty-stricken Scottish family and its global migration will visit Oregon State University on Thursday, April 25, for a reading and lecture.

Valerie Miner, author of "The Low Road: A Scottish Family Memoir," will give her presentation in Memorial Union Room 206 beginning at 4 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Her talk, "Cross-Genre Writing Across the Generations," will look at blending fiction and memoir. T OSU Visiting Writers Series and the OSU Craft of Writing Series are sponsoring the event.

Miner will also read from "The Low Road," which tells the story of the migration of a poor Scottish family from the tenements of Edinburgh across the world. Miner focuses on the life journeys of her grandmother, her mother and herself, searching for truth, unveiling secrets and learning family histories. Critic Vivian Gornick described her work as "a richly imagined family history: beautifully written and deeply felt."

Miner is the author of 10 books, including novels, short story collections and essays. Her works have appeared in Salmagundi, New Letters, The Nation and more than 50 anthologies.

A professor of English and creative writing at the University of Minnesota, she has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information on the Visiting Writer Series, contact Marjorie Sandor of the OSU English Department at 541-737-1648.