Local authors Jim Rogers and Nick Hayes will read tonight from their works in the Readings by Writers series in St. Paul.

Rogers is a poet and editor of “New Hibernia Review,” a journal of Irish Studies published by the University of St. Thomas. His next book, “Places Near the Dead,” is a collection of essays and poems on burial sites, and will be released by Blueroad Press in 2011. His 2006 book of poems, “Sundogs,” was described as filled with “quietly celebratory poems” that “delight with their easy elegance and reminders of joy.”

Hayes, best known as a frequent radio and television news commentator on Russian issues, will read from his memoir “And One Find Morning; Memories of My Father.” It’s been called “… a moving tribute to his father, an artist, architect and dreamer who died too young … but left behind a first-class legacy of buildings …”

The free reading is tonight at 7:30 at the University Club Saint Paul, 420 Summit Av. There’s an open bar, and an optional dinner is available at 5 p.m.; call 651-222-1751 for reservations.