Author B.J. Leggett will give the first “Writers in the Library” reading of the 2014-15 academic year. Leggett will read from his latest novel, Prosperity, on Monday, September 15, at 7 p.m. in the Lindsay Young Auditorium of the John C. Hodges Library. The reading is free and open to the public.

Prosperity tells the story of police lieutenant Robert O’Brian, who takes early retirement after being shot in a drug raid and returns to his hometown of Prosperity in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to work on a second novel. But O’Brian’s plans are unexpectedly disrupted when he becomes involved in the investigation of the death of a high school friend.

B.J. (Bob) Leggett is professor emeritus at UT Knoxville, where he held the title of Distinguished Professor of Humanities. He is the author of numerous studies of modern poetry and criticism, including books on A. E. Housman, Philip Larkin, and Wallace Stevens. Prosperity is his second novel. The first, Playing Out the String, was published by Livingston Press in 2004.

Writers in the Library hosts readings by noted authors of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Other authors scheduled to read this semester are, in order of appearance, Amy Billone, Elizabeth McCracken, Keith Flynn, Joyce Jenkins, and David James Poissant. For a schedule of upcoming readings and videos of past events, visit lib.utk.edu/writers.

The series is sponsored by the UT Libraries and the UT Creative Writing Program in association with the John C. Hodges Better English Fund. Writers in the Library events are emceed by the Libraries’ Jack E. Reese Writer-in-Residence, Christopher Hebert.