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CORVALLIS - Ann Packer, author of the national bestseller, "The Dive from Clausen's Pier," will visit Oregon State University on Thursday, March 11, where she will speak and read from her work.

Her presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Construction and Engineering Auditorium at LaSells Stewart Center.

he reading is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow.

Packer's appearance is the second reading in the 2004 Visiting Writers Series, sponsored by the OSU English Department, the Valley Library and the Office of the Provost. Novelist Francine Prose was the first writer in this year's series.

"The Dive from Clausen's Pier" was selected as a best book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, Newsday and the San Jose Mercury News, and it received the 2003 Great Lakes Book Award and the 2003 Kate Chopin Award.

Packer's debut novel examines the dilemma a young woman faces as she examines her relationships and life's options - when suddenly her fiancé suffers an accident that turns him into a quadriplegic.

The New York Times called the book beguiling, adding, "Packer knows just how to make a story build; the novel reveals a sure sense of pace and pitch, a brilliant ear for character...a searching emotional generosity."

The Chicago Tribune calls it "quietly provocative...Packer has a wonderfully optimistic yet realistic view of humanity."

Before writing "The Dive from Clausen's Pier," Packer wrote a book of short stories called "Mendocino and Other Stories," which the San Francisco Chronicle called "graceful and effortless." Packer's fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares and other magazines.

Packer, who lives in northern California, has received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a James Michener Award.