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CORVALLIS - Grace Paley, a short story writer also known for her political activism and concern for women's issues, will give a free public lecture at Oregon State University on Tuesday, Jan. 30.

"An Evening with Grace Paley" will begin at 8 p.m. in LaSells Stewart Center, 26th Street and Western Boulevard in Corvallis. Her appearance is sponsored by OSU's Convocations and Lectures Committee.

Paley is one of only a few American writers to gain a widespread literary reputation solely from short stories. Her published work includes three collections of short stories beginning with "The Little Disturbances of Man" in 1959, a book of poetry and numerous essays and articles.

Her stories have been praised for their style and craftsmanship. She is among the earliest writers to treat female sexuality in a candid manner and to evoke the plight of the single parent.

Paley describes herself as a "somewhat combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist." As a member of the War Resisters League during the Vietnam war, she visited American military deserters in Stockholm and Paris. She also visited Hanoi on a peace movement mission. She attended the World Peace Congress in Moscow in 1974, and in 1985 she visited Nicaragua and El Salvador after campaigning against U.S. policy toward those countries.

In 1980, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Paley's short story collection, "Later the Same Day," received a PEN-Faulkner Prize for fiction. In 1987, she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Senior Fellowship for Literature, an award that honors writers who have made a major contribution to American literature.

Paley attended Hunter College, New York University and the New School for Social Research, but did not receive a degree. She has taught at Columbia and Syracuse universities, and was on the faculty at Sarah Lawrence College from 1966 to 1988.

Paley will read from her works and engage the audience in a discussion of writing and literature.