Distinguished author John McGahern will be at DePaul University to read from his upcoming novel, “By The Lake,” which will be published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., and available in bookstores in December. The event, which will include readings from some of McGahern’s other works and a discussion session, will take place at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Egan Urban Center, 243 S. Wabash Ave., 9th floor. It is sponsored by DePaul’s School for New Learning and the English Department.

One of Ireland’s premier novelists, McGahern has been celebrated in the United States and France as part of the international academic literary circuit. Born in Dublin in 1934, the son of an Irish police sergeant, McGahern was raised in police barracks in impoverished, rural Ireland after his mother died when he was just 10 years old. His first novel, “The Barracks” (republished in 2001 by Faber & Faber Inc.), was written in 1963 and earned him two of Ireland’s most prestigious literary awards, the A.E. Memorial Award and the Arts Council Macauley Fellowship. He followed that in 1965 with his second work, “The Dark” (Faber & Faber), which was banned in Ireland for its explicit treatment of sexual and religious subjects.

McGahern, who has written several other novels and collections of short stories, is a prolific author whose courageously honest works examine the vagaries of life in his native land, often challenging many conventional Irish social, sexual and religious values. Considered a master of short stories, his books often feature rural settings and a cast of lonely characters who have been relegated to outsider status in life by nature and social conditions. McGahern’s reading and discussion is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. A reception will precede the reading, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Call Ann Kwait at 312/362-6366 for more information or to reserve a space.