Award-winning fiction writer Lynn Austin will present a reading from her work on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 4 p.m., at Hope College in the DeWitt Center Herrick Room.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Austin, who writes historical Christian fiction, is the author of 11 novels, two of which have won the Christy Award for excellence in Christian inspirational fiction: "Hidden Places" in 2002 and "Candle in the Darkness" in 2003. Her 12th novel, "A Light To My Path," set during the Civil War, will be published this coming fall. Hallmark recently optioned the film rights for "Hidden Places."

Austin attended Hope for three years and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors at Southern Connecticut State University in 1972. Although she had a desire to write for many years, the demands of her growing family and their frequent moves (which included Bogota, Colombia; several U.S. states; and Canada), postponed her career. When her husband's work took the family to Winnipeg, Manitoba, she unearthed her dormant dream to write during the long Canadian winters.

Austin credits her parents and grandparents with instilling in her the Christian values that are so important to her today. And it was her mother, a retired librarian, who nurtured her love for books.Along with reading, two of Austin's lifelong passions are history and archaeology. While researching her biblical fiction series, "Chronicles of the King," these two interests led her to pursue graduate studies in biblical backgrounds and archaeology through Southwestern Theological Seminary. She traveled to Israel during the summer of 1989 to take part in an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Timnah.

An educator, she resigned from teaching to write full-time in 1992.

Austin and her husband Ken, who is a 1970 Hope graduate, have three children and currently live in Orland Park, Ill.

The reading is sponsored by the college's department of English. The Herrick Room is on the southwest corner of the second floor of the DeWitt Center, which is located on Columbia Avenue at 12th Street.