Fiction writer Jonathan Ames reading tonight

As a part of the Dairy Barn Writers' Series, fiction writer Jonathan Ames will be reading at The Dairy Barn, 8000 Dairy Lane, at 7 tonight.

Ames has published two novels, I Pass By Night and The Extra Man, both with comical and detailed descriptions of sexual adventures and misadventures. He recently published What's Not to Love?, a collection of articles previously published in the tabloid New York Press.

"A strange mixture of innocence and sophistication generates the originality of these prose pieces," said Mark Halliday, English professor at Ohio University. "On the one hand, Ames seems to know a lot, maybe too much, about the unconventional, the disturbing, even the degrading aspects of human sexuality. On the other hand, he describes his experiences with a kind of unpretentious, openheartedness."

Halliday arranged Ames' visit after meeting him at a writer's conference at West Virginia University in 1999.

"He has also performed many times in New York City as a storyteller with comic monologues in the tradition of Spalding Gray," Halliday said.

Ames also has been a boxer. He is a visiting professor of English at Indiana University.

The Dairy Barn Writers' Series hosts four readings per year. The next reading will be April 26 with poet Gail Mazur.

- Holly Schreiber