Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford reads from his work at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 13, in Chase Hall Lounge, Campus Avenue, Bates College.

The public is invited to attend the event, part of the Writers Harvest, the annual literary benefit to fight hunger and poverty sponsored by the national hunger organization Share Our Strength (SOS). Donations will be accepted and proceeds will benefit area food banks.

 A native of Jackson, Miss., and a resident of East Boothbay, Ford is the author of eight books of fiction — five novels and three collections of stories, plus many essays. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and writes on cultural matters for La Repubblica.

Ford's novel "Independence Day" (Knopf) won the 1996 Pulitzer Price for fiction, and his stories have won the PEN-Malamud Prize for distinguished contributions to the short story. New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani called Ford "one of his generation's most eloquent voices."

Each fall, Writers Harvest invites writers to fight hunger and poverty by reading from their works at bookstores, college campuses and community centers around the country. SOS distributes 100 percent of event donations to statewide anti-hunger and anti-poverty efforts. Since its inception in 1992, SOS's Writers Harvest has raised more than $800,000 for the fight against hunger.

Ford's reading is sponsored by the Department of English.