Few authors have mastered the short story as well as Amy Hempel. Read a number such as "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried" or "The Harvest" and you're in the hands of a master who can perfectly turn a phrase, pull the rug out from under you and deal with the most complex and uncomfortable emotions in a way that's always crystal clear. Hempel is the 2011 Morgan Writer-in-Residence at UNC-Chapel Hill; if you've never experienced her work, check out her free reading at 6 p.m. at Carroll Hall auditorium, off Cameron Avenue behind Memorial Hall. —Zack Smith