FORT KENT — St. John Valley residents will have the opportunity to meet one of North America’s foremost fiction writers when Canadian author John Metcalf visits the University of Maine at Fort Kent campus this week.

Chosen for the recommended summer reading list by the New York Times Book Review, Metcalf is the author of numerous short stories, novellas and novels. His most recent work, a collection of short stories and novellas titled “Adult Entertainment,” is the first of Metcalf’s works to be published in the United States.

“Adult Entertainment,” published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, introduces American readers to Metcalf’s work, whose hallmarks are elegant prose, ironic wit and hilarious comic invention, according to reviews of his work.

In the stories, the reader meets a shy student exposed to a grotesque landlady and her family; a junior teacher in a reform school who lets an entire cricket team escape; and a middle-aged dreamer who may or may not have encountered Venus outside the railway station in Milan.

The stories show Metcalf’s keen eye for the lurking disasters of everyday life — yet his characters meet them with black wit and dogged, even heroic, resilience.

The winner of numerous Canadian literary awards, Metcalf has been presented the Canadian Council Arts Award nine times. On behalf of the Canadian government and PEN International, he has lectured and read at universities in Germany, Yugoslavia and Italy, and has been a writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, the University of Ottawa, Loyola University of Montreal, Concordia University and the University of Bologna in Italy.

Harpers Bazaar said, “One of Canada’s best-kept secrets finally steps south of his border with this collection of short stories. Funny, farcical and sharp, Metcalf writes with a lemon in his typewriter.”

Born and raised in Great Britain, Metcalf was educated at the University of Bristol. He came to Canada to teach in 1962. He also has been active in the field of Canadian letters as an editor, essayist and anthologist. “General Lund,” his last novel, has been called “probably the finest comic novel ever published in Canada.”

He is visiting UMFK at the invitation of another prominent writer, UMFK alumna Cathie Pelletier, who is teaching a creative writing course at the university this summer.

Pelletier said she became friends with Metcalf after meeting him at a writers’ conference at the University of New Brunswick 15 years ago. “My exposure to Metcalf as a young writer changed my life,” she said.

She said Metcalf’s visit to UMFK was the first in a series of similar events she plans to organize.

The public is invited to sit in on and participate in Metcalf’s address to Pelletier’s creative writing class from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday.

Pelletier said he would teach the workshop himself, which would provide “a rare opportunity for UMFK students to learn new aspects of fiction from an artist of this stature.”

Because the workshop already consists of 20 students, outside involvement is limited, Pelletier said. She recommended that those wanting to attend call UMFK to register.

Metcalf also will conduct a public reading of his most recent work at 7 p.m. Friday in the Cyr Hall conference room. The reading is free and open to the public.

For more information concerning Metcalf’s visit or to register for the workshop, call Julia Bayly, UMFK coordinator of public relations and alumni services, at 834-3162, Ext. 410.