Author Mary Helen Stefaniak will be in Ames tonight at Big Table Books to discuss her new collection of short stories titled “Self Storage.”

“The book is published by New Rivers Press, and they do a lot of books by up-and-coming authors,” said Cheryl McGough, publicist for Big Table Books. “These publishers do really good fiction, and the books tend to be by authors that are not very well-known, but who are believed to be the new talents.”

This particular collection of short stories spins tales from the stuff of everyday life, McGough added.

“We have had comments about the book by various people in the ISU English department who recognized her name,” McGough said. “She has had stuff published in short stories before by publishers such as the North American Review, Yale Review and the Iowa Review.”

Stefaniak is a native of Milwaukee with degrees from Marquette University and the Iowa Writers Workshop.

She has also worked as a salesclerk, a model, a U.S. Census interviewer, a soccer coach, a French teacher, a European tour guide and as fiction editor of The Iowa Review.

The book-signing and discussion will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. Big Table Books is located at 330 Main Street in Ames.