FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 5, 2000 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE WRITERS AND CRITICS SERIES TO FEATURE WARNER Sharon Oard Warner, director of creative writing at the University of New Mexico, will speak at Drake on Wednesday, April 12 -- the day after her first novel, "Deep in the Heart," is published by Dial Press. Warner will read from "Deep in the Heart" at 7:30 p.m. in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall, 1317 28th St. The event is free and open to the public as part of Drake's Writers and Critics Series. There will be signing opportunities after the reading. At the University of New Mexico, Warner teaches fiction writing and contemporary literature. She is also the founding director of UNM's Taos Summer Writers' Conference. Her stories have been published in various literary magazines, including Prairie Schooner, Sonora Review and Green Mountains Review. Her first book, "Learning to Dance and Other Stories" was a Minnesota Voices Project Winner. Warner also is the editor of an anthology titled "The Way We Write Now: Short Stories from the AIDS Crisis." For more information about Warner's appearance at Drake, call (515) 271-3857 or send an e-mail message to joanne.brown@drake.edu.