Author Kirk Read will present a reading on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 4:30 p.m. as a part of Coastal Carolina University's "The Words to Say It" series. The free event will be held in the Recital Hall of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts on Coastal's Conway campus.

Read, who wrote "How I Learned to Snap," the story of being openly gay in a small Southern community in the 1980s, is also the featured author in conjunction with National Coming Out Day, which is celebrated nationally on Oct. 11.

A reception will follow the event, which is co-sponsored by the Edwards College and the Women's and Gender Studies Program.

"Read's memoir of coming out as a young gay man in a conservative, religious, Old South environment is one particularly suited to celebrate National Coming Out Day on our South Carolina campus," says Dan Albergotti, creative writing professor and coordinator of the Words to Say It series.

Read grew up in Lexington, Va., and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia. In New York, he studied at Playwrights Horizon, then moved back to Virginia and became editor of the state's monthly gay and lesbian newspaper, Our Own Community Press. He began syndicating a humorous op-ed column, which appeared in more than 70 print and Web outlets, including The Washington Blade, Southern Voice, Frontiers and Philadelphia Gay News.

In 1998, he moved to San Francisco, where he is working on a second book. His work has appeared in Out, Genre, Christopher Street, QSF, and a host of alternative weeklies, Web sites and newspapers.

For more information contact Albergotti at (843) 349-2420.