Lawrence author and Journal-World columnist Elizabeth Black will discuss her book and sign copies at an event today at Kansas University.

Black, who writes the Journal-World’s “Back to the Center” column, will read from her book, “Buffalo Spirits,” during the event, which runs from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Oread Books, in the Kansas Union.

The novel, Black’s first, was published in 2004. It centers on the character Rebecca, who returns to the Plains after time away to find the area ravaged by droughts, misguided agriculture and the perils of agribusiness. The novel weaves in American Indian wisdom, a 100-year-old mystery and a painful truth about Rebecca’s past.