READING — Rabid fans of the "Rabbit" novels from all over the world have been meeting over the weekend in the author's former eastern Pennsylvania stomping grounds in the first international conference of the John Updike Society.

The organization meeting at Alvernia University studies the life and work of the acclaimed chronicler of American suburbia who was born in Reading and raised in nearby Shillington. Updike wrote more than 60 books include "Rabbit, Run," and won two Pulitzers, for "Rabbit Is Rich" and "Rabbit at Rest," and two National Book Awards.

The conference featured not only meetings and discussions but a tour of sites in Updike country around Reading and Shillington.