adolescence

Sharon Olds reads poems from her large body of work. This reading includes early versions of several poems that would go on to be collected in The Wellspring (1996). 

Elizabeth Evans reads excerpts from her third novel, Rowing in Eden.

In his first visit to Tucson, Franz Wright reads prose pieces, most of which were unpublished at the time of his reading, as well as several lineated poems. He comments generously on his writing process and friendships with other poets.

Laura Tohe reads from No Parole Today (1999) and poems that would later be published in Tséyi'/Deep in the Rock: Reflections on Canyon de Chelly (2005). Stephen Strom, the photographer for Tséyi'/Deep in the Rock: Reflections on Canyon de Chelly, also briefly speaks about his work.

Nancy Mairs reads from a draft version of a manuscript that would later be published as Remembering the Bone House: An Erotics of Place and Space (1989).

Rodney Jones reads from Apocalyptic Narrative and Other Poems (1993), Things That Happen Once (1996), and Elegy for the Southern Drawl (1999).

Yona Harvey performs poems from Hemming the Water (2013) as well as work unpublished at the time of the reading. This reading was originally given with Craig Santos Perez as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

Gary Soto reads poetry and prose from Who Will Know Us (1990) and A Summer Life (1990), along with poems that would later be collected in Home Course in Religion (1991).

Benjamin Alire Sáenz reads from his short story "The Rule Maker," collected in his PEN/Faulkner Award-winning book Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club (2012).

Just after joining the University of Arizona faculty, Elizabeth Evans reads the first chapter of an unpublished manuscript titled Ancient History, parts of which went on to be included in her novel Rowing in Eden (2000).

Winners of the Poets & Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award, Laura Kasischke and David Reynolds read from their winning manuscripts. Kasischke reads poems from Housekeeping in a Dream, and Reynolds reads the chapter "Hush, Noah" from In the Waiting World.

Leroy V. Quintana reads poems including "Guadalupe," "Frida," and "Points North." Estela Portillo Trambley reads from her short story "If It Weren't For The Honeysuckle" (1975).

Paul Zimmer reads poems inspired by his troubled youth during the Eisenhower years, as well as several persona poems.

Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Stephen Dunn opens with "Under the Black Oaks," the poem he had most recently written at the time of this reading. Dunn reads poems from throughout his career, often on the theme of family, including a poem about losing his mother, an atheist's parenting dilemmas as his daughter moves toward Christianity, and an ode to the sister he never had.

Thomas Rogers reads from the manuscript of his novel At the Shores (1980). At the time of the reading, the novel was a work in progress with the title The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole.

Vivian Gornick reads from Fierce Attachments (1987), a memoir of the author's past and present relationship with her mother. This University of Arizona Creative Writing faculty reading was originally given with Mary Elsie Robertson.