SPECIAL TO THE REPORTER

Author Robert Dalby will visit the North Shelby Library to delight visitors with his new novel, &8220;Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly,&8221; on September 7.

Dalby is well known for his hilarious and incisive portrayals of small-town southern culture and the delightful characters who populate them.

In the book, heroine Laurie Lepanto is determined to keep her much beloved local Piggly Wiggly from closing. The supermarket has served the town not only as a grocery store but also as the community center. With the help of her friends, a group of eccentric widows and a very eligible senior bachelor and professional ballroom dancer, the Piggly Wiggly is soon transformed into not only a full-service market, but a dance hall.

Dalby also penned the acclaimed &8220;O Bed, O Breakfast&8221;, another riotous send-up of quirky southerners and their way of life. The author is a native of Mississippi who has long observed and been enchanted by the people he meets and is a life-long fan of the Piggly Wiggly.

Reservations are required and tickets are available at the library for $10.

Lunch will be served. Dalby will greet guests and sign books after the event, which will begin at 11:30 a.m.

For more information or to make reservations call 439-5555