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Thank you for coming
tonight for the reading

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by Daniyal Mueenuddin.

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He's our third reader of
the 2011-2012 prose series.

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Before I give you the pleasure
of hearing Daniyal read,

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I'd like to thank the English
department for funding

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the prose series, and the Poetry
Center, Gail Brown and Cybele

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and Bonnie Jean and
Annie, all of who

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helped us so much in putting
together all of our events,

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and thank them too, for
generously housing our authors

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and giving us this great
space for the readings.

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Thanks too, to our co-sponsors,
the Center for Middle Eastern

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Studies and the
College of Humanities.

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Daniyal Mueenuddin's debut
collection of stories,

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"In Other Rooms,
Other Wonders," was

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published in 22 countries
in 19 languages.

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It was the winner of the
Story Prize for 2009,

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the 2010 Rosenthal
Family Foundation

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award from the American
Academy of Arts and Letters,

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and the 2010 Commonwealth
Writers Prize.

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The collection was one of three
finalists for the 2010 Pulitzer

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Prize, a finalist for the
2009 National Book Awards,

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the LA Times First Fiction
Award, and the Ondaatje Prize.

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It was voted Top 10
Books of the Year

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by Publishers Weekly, The
Economist, and Time Magazine,

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and Best Books of the Year
by the Guardian and the New

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Statesman.

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His stories have been selected
for Best American short stories

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and the PEN/O Henry
Prize Stories.

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Daniyal Mueenuddin is a
graduate of Dartmouth College,

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Yale Law School, and
the graduate program

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in creative writing here at
the University of Arizona.

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One of the great pleasures
of introducing authors

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whose work you revere
is a chance to read

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not only the accolades that have
been bestowed on the author,

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but a few lines from the author
to whet the reader's appetite.

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So I just want to read one
paragraph, because it's fun.

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"When I drove through the
gate of my house, a sagging

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wooden affair once
painted green,

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once perhaps, in
colonial days, a swing

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for little English children,
I found an old man standing

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by the portico with
the timeless patience

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of peasants and old servants,
as if he had been standing there

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all day.

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He wore a battered white
skullcap, soiled clothes,

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a sleeveless sweater, and shoes
with crepe rubber soles worn

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down on one side, which gave
each foot a peculiar tilt.

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The deep lines on his face ran
in no rational order, no order

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corresponding to
musculature or to emotions

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through which his
expressions might pass,

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but spread from numerous points.

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The oversized head
had settled heavily

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onto the shoulders like
a sandcastle on the beach

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after the sea has run over it.

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That's why we're here.

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Daniyal graduated from the
University of Arizona MFA

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program in 2004.

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He was my student
during his days

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here, though it might be
more appropriate to say

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I was one of Daniyal's readers.

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His work knocked the
socks off the members

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of the creative writing faculty,
not just the fiction faculty,

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but the entire faculty.

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Since those days,
he's been compared

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to Turgenev and Chekhov.

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I felt very lucky to be the
advisor on his MFA manuscript.

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During his manuscript
semester, he

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would bring me a story to read.

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And then after I'd had
a chance to read it,

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he'd come by my office.

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And I praised the
beauty and intelligence

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that was present in
every one of the stories

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and make suggestions
for editing the piece.

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And Daniyal would nod and
smile his charming smile.

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Then he'd bring
me another story.

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And I'd say
wonderful, wonderful,

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and make some suggestions.

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And he'd nod and smile.

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And he wrote a whole
lot while he was here.

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It was no surprise
to me to open the New

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Yorker a couple of years ago
and find Daniyal's stories.

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I knew.

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I think that we all knew
that he would be publishing.

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What did surprise me was
the depth of my response

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to the stories.

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I'm sure that all of you know--

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I'm getting a little
choked up because it

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was a very, very deep response.

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I'm sure all of you know
the satisfaction that comes

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after you finish a great story.

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Then there's the real joy that
comes on those rare occasions

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when you read story after
story by a particular writer

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and you feel, here's
someone I will want

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to read the rest of your life.

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That's how I felt
when I read this book.

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Thanks, Daniyal.

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