Paul Harding, whose gentle and poetic novel, "Tinkers," was a surprise winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, will be in the Twin Cities for three free public appearances next week.

Harding, 43, is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, and his book, which is about a dying clockmaker in New England, was deemed far too quiet and meditative for most agents and publishers. It was published by Bellevue Literary Press, a very small independent press, and reviewed by only a handful of newspapers (including the Star Tribune; we said the book crackles on the page with a quiet intensity, and you can read our review here).

And then, BAM! It won the Pulitzer Prize. And now you can go see him.

He'll be at the St. Croix Falls library at 4 p.m. on Sunday, the Stillwater Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 15), and at the Southdale Library in Edina at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Aren't libraries great?