American Shorts Thursday night brings Mary Gaitskill, a novelist with a growing following among younger literati, to town.

She's developed the kind of attention that prompts a New York Times interviewer to comment on her "smooth skin" and "affectless voice."

The source of Gaitskill's heightened appeal was "Veronica," her 2005 novel of dissolution and redemption among the modeling world of the 1980s. It was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Among the novel's virtues was its invocation of the pop music of the time and lines like this: "I think love is overrated. My parents loved me. And it didn't do any good."

At 53, Gaitskill had produced a small yet noteworthy body of fiction -- "Bad Behavior," "Two Girls" and "Fat and Thin" -- before her current book. Her works share a vivid sense of life's decaying underbelly and a detached view of sex and its various consequences.

Her short story, "The Secretary," a tale of sado-masochism, earned further notoriety when it was turned into a film.

The reading is a departure from the American Shorts format, in which local residents of varying levels of celebrity read short stories based on a theme.

Thursday's opening act will be Sherrie Flick, artistic director of the Gist Street Reading Series and author of a short-fiction work, "I Call This Flirting."

Also on the program will be short films by Martha Colburn, "Secrets of Mexuality" and "Spiders in Love."

The stage will be at On, a new arts and performance spot at 5005 Penn Ave., Garfield. Festivities begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8. Call Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures at 412-622-8866 to order.

Masters at Mattress Factory

Thursday is also the night for a book party for Hilary Masters at the Mattress Factory art gallery, 500 Sampsonia Way, North Side.

Masters is celebrating the publication of "Elegy for Sam Masterson," his new novel set partly in Pittsburgh.

He's professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University and also has written memoirs, essays and nonfiction.

The party starts at 7 p.m. and is open to all. The Mattress Factory phone is 412-231-3169.

Adiele out of Africa

The PBS documentary on writer Faith Adiele's visit to Africa and her ancestral roots, "My Journey Home," screens tonight at 8 at the Melwood Screening Room of Pittsburgh Filmmakers, 477 Melwood Ave., Oakland.

Adiele teaches nonfiction writing at the University of Pittsburgh and is the author of the memoir "Keeping Faith." The 2004 documentary follows her travels to Nigeria, the home of her father.

Tickets are $4 at the door and include food and drink. Reception starts at 7 p.m. 412-681-5449.

Bettis at Borders

Former Steeler Jerome Bettis visits Borders' Northway Mall store in Ross Friday at 7 p.m. to promote and sign his book, "Driving Home: My Unforgettable Super Bowl Run," co-written by Teresa Varley (Triumph Books, $29.95.) His parents, Gladys and John, provided the foreword.

Tickets are required to attend the book signing, and to get a ticket, you must buy the book. Borders will be open at 9 a.m. Friday for tickets. The store phone: 412-635-7661

For more info

For information on Chatham College's new reading program that starts next Tuesday with poet Mark Doty, call 412-365-1190. I had listed the college's general number in an earlier story about the series.