Venise Berry doesn’t like phone calls in the middle of the night.

“When I was in broadcast news I would get calls at 3 a.m. telling me to go to the scene of a train wreck or a car accident,” she said. “That’s when I knew I needed to find another career.”

Berry is now a published and respected author. She will be at Big Table Books tonight to give a reading of her first novel, So Good: An African-American Love Story.

The novel traces the romantic entanglements of three women with different problems in their search for the elusive Mr. Right.

“I have experienced many of the relationship problems mentioned in the book,” Berry said. “It’s very true-to-life.”

Before attempting this novel Berry made a name for herself in nonfiction by researching African-American images in the media.

“I have always had a creative side,” she said. “The poetry and the fiction balance out the academic research.”

Berry is currently an assistant professor at the University of Iowa

in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

She has been published in numerous academic journals and in various research works.

As established as she is in the lite

rary field, one would think publishing a novel would be simple.

Wrong.

“So Good was written back in the 80s but no one would publish it,” Berry said. “Then Terry McMillan made it big with Waiting to Exhale and suddenly editors wanted books by African American women.

“Better late than never,” Berry added.

Berry will be at Big Table Books in downtown Ames at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The event is free and open to the public.