Christie Hodgen discusses her latest novel, Elegies for the Brokenhearted, on Wednesday, November 3, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

The book follows the life of the fictional Mary Murphy, who while growing up in a dying industrial town in the 1980s, is dragged from home to home as her mother serially marries and treats Mary and her sister like little more than luggage. Hodgen tells Mary’s story, from childhood to adulthood, through elegies of five crucial relationships in her life

Hodgen will be interviewed by Angela Elam, host of News Letters on the Air. The event celebrates the start of National Novel Writing Month.

Hodgen, an assistant professor in the UMKC Department of English Language and Literature, has been awarded two Pushcart Prizes and the AWP Award in Short Fiction.

The event is co-sponsored by New Letters Magazine. The interview will be broadcast on a future edition of New Letters on the Air on KCUR and other public radio station across the country.