On Wednesday, June 25, the 2008 Thurber House Literary Picnics series will present Lee Martin, a professor and director of creative wWriting at The Ohio State University. Martin is the author of several books, including the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, The Bright Forever.

Martin will read from his latest novel, River of Heaven, a story about secrets that are hard to keep, especially in a small town. Sam Brady had buried his long ago and was living a solitary life to keep them that way. Everything changes when his brother, Cal, returns to Mt. Gilead, more than 50 years after the mysterious death of Sam’s friend, Dewey, on the railroad tracks outside of town.

Suddenly the tragic secrets of the past threaten to reveal themselves, and Sam is caught in a struggle between deceit and truth.

Martin has won many literary awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, a Lawrence Foundation Award, and the Glenna Luschei Prize.

Martin’s reading is the second of the Thurber House Literary Picnics summer series, presented on the side lawn of Thurber House, at 77 Jefferson Ave., where picnickers listen to nationally known Ohio authors read from their latest work. The series is now in its 23rd season.

Guests can order a picnic dinner catered by Party Panache or bring their own. Each picnic offers a tour of James Thurber’s historic home given by the Thurber House pre-teen Young Docents. Tours begin at 5:20 p.m.; the picnics start at 6:15 p.m.; and the reading is at 7 p.m.

Guests must bring their own blankets or lawn chairs for seating. Parking is free after 6 p.m. at the meters on Jefferson Avenue. The neighboring rain site is State Auto Insurance, 518 E. Broad St.

Ticket prices: Mini-Series for three picnics, dinner/reading, $65; Individual dinner/reading tickets, $25; reading only, adults, $15; children 12 and under, $5. For more information visit www.thurberhouse.org or call 614-464-1032.