The winter-spring lineup for the public library's Talk of the Stacks has been announced. It's short -- just three authors -- but impressive: T.C. Boyle, Jasper Fforde, and Joyce Carol Oates.

Boyle, author of "After the Plague" and "The Road to Wellville," will be here Feb. 25 to present his new novel, "When the Killing's Done."

New York Times bestselling novelist Fforde, author of the "Thursday Next" series, will be here March 16 to discuss his newest novel, "One of Our Thursdays Is Missing."

And Oates, author of nearly 60 novels, including "We Were the Mulvaneys" and "What I Lived For," will discuss her memoir, "A Widow's Story," on March 30.

Talk of the Stacks is presented by the Library Foundation of Hennepin County. All programs are free and open to the public and are held in Pohlad Hall at Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Mpls. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and programs begin at 7 p.m.

LAURIE HERTZEL