Valerie Nieman will visit City Lights Bookstore at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, to read from and discuss her third novel, Blood Clay.

“Blood Clay is a profoundly moving and beautifully written novel about a community torn apart by tragedy,” said author Ron Rash. “Valerie Nieman is a writer of remarkable talent, and she has given us a book that, once read, will be hard for any reader to forget.”

Nieman is also the author of a collection of short stories, Fidelities, and a poetry collection, Wake Wake Wake. She has received an NEA creative writing fellowship, two Elizabeth Simpson Smith prizes in fiction, and the Greg Grummer Prize in poetry.

A native of Western New York State, she graduated from West Virginia University and the M.F.A. program at Queens University of Charlotte. She teaches writing at N.C. A&T State University and is the poetry editor for Prime Number Magazine.

828.586.9499.