Reading to Benefit Relief Effort

The Harvard creative writing faculty will hold a public reading of their work tonight at the Kirkland Junior Common Room as part of a national benefit for nonprofit hunger relief organizations.

The benefit reading is one of many taking place at more than 200 college campuses nationwide called "Writer's Harvest: The National Reading," sponsored by Share Our Strength, according to Ann E. Andrews, the group's media director.

Across the country, 800 writers including Scott Turow, William Styron, Maya Angelou and Joyce Carol Oates will participate in the effort, which organizers hope will raise $100,000 for the hungry, Andrews said.

"The goals are to raise awareness and to get money to the people who need it most," Andrews said.

Fifty percent of the money will go to a local charity--in this case, the Boston Food Bank--while 50 percent will go to national hunger relief programs.

Jill McCorkle, Briggs-Copeland lecturer on English and American literature, will be coordinating the event at Harvard, which includes readings by McCorkle and fellow Briggs-Copeland lecturers Robert J. Cohen, Henri Cole and Verlyn Klinkenborg.

McCorkle, author of four novels, said nearly 100 people attended last year's event, an attendance figure that she said she hopes to top.

"People so respect Share our Strength," McCorkle said. "Based on that and knowing it [hunger] is such a good cause, we hope [the reading] is packed."

The program will take place at 8:15 p.m. Admission is $5 for students and $10 for others, although McCorkle said she welcomes larger contributions.

American Express and Princeton Review are sponsoring the program.