PHILADELPHIA In a program designed to connect undergraduate students with accomplished writers, award-winning playwright Tony Kushner will be the first 2001 Kelly Writers House Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize and many other awards for his seven-hour, two-part Broadway production of Angels in America.

The other 2001 Fellows will be David Sedaris in March and June Jordan in April.

In the Writers House Fellows Seminar, undergraduates will study the work of each of the three Fellows. The course is taught by Al Filreis, professor of English and faculty director of Writers House. The undergraduate coordinator for the 2001 series is Leigh Esposito.

For the Kushner visit, there will be a reading/presentation by the playwright at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 12, at Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, on the Penn campus.

At 10 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 13, Writers House will host a brunch followed by a one-hour conversation with Kushner that will also be broadcast live on the Web.

All Writers House Fellows events are free and open to the public but attendance at the brunch requires reservations, which can be made by e-mailing whfellow@dept.english.upenn.edu. Participation in the webcast can also be arranged in advance by e-mailing whfellow@dept.english.upenn.edu.

The Writers House Fellows program at Penn is made possible by support from Paul Kelly.