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Thank you for coming out to our
final reading in this year's

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Prose Series.

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Glad to see you all.

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And we're delighted to have
Monica Drake with us tonight.

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Before I introduce her,
I want to thank, again,

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the Poetry Center for allowing
us to use this wonderful space

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for our readings and for
hosting our guest authors.

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So thank you, Gail Browne
and Cybele Knowles,

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and Annie, and all the rest
of the Poetry Center staff.

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Thanks also to the
English department

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for supporting the series
and to our co-sponsors, Poets

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and Writers in the
College of Humanities.

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And we hope you'll all come
back next year in the fall

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when we start the new series.

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Monica Drake is the author of
the critically acclaimed indie

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novel, Clown Girl.

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A new novel, The Stud Book
is forthcoming from Crown.

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Clown Girl has been optioned by
Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night

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Live and Bridesmaid fame.

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Monica Drake's
stories and essays

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have appeared in the Northwest
Review, Threepenny Review,

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Beloit Fiction Journal,
and many other publications

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and anthologies.

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She's the winner of numerous
awards for her works

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of literary fiction.

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And currently teaches at
Pacific Northwest College of Art

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in Portland.

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In 1991, Monica Drake joined
Tom Spanbowers Portland-based

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workshop, Dangerous Writers.

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Chuck Palahniuk, also
a member of the group,

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recalls that Monica
Drake was the star,

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her stories making everyone
quote, "forget to breathe

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and then break out in
laughter so loud and honest

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that to people passing on
the sidewalk in the dark,

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we might have been
hooting or--" sorry,

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I've got a little typo here--

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"dogs barking.

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No matter what
you'd bring to read,

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Monica would write
something better, funnier,

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more surprising, and sexy."

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About that same time,
back in the days

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when we ran a three year
master of fine arts program,

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to our good fortune,
Monica Drake

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came to the
University of Arizona.

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She was part of a class of
really distinguished writers.

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Another one of her class
members is here, Kevin Canty.

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Still, her stories
really stood out.

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The story's cast,
often characters living

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on the fringe, was new.

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And she introduced
us to its members

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with grace and a low
key, yet devastating wit.

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Her sensibility was all her
own, tender-hearted and funny,

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sometimes even wacky,
but with a true undertow.

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Hers were stories
with consequences.

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The writing was compassionate,
but it did not bluff.

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Every story earned its keep.

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And nobody got off
strictly for good behavior.

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Monica Drake has held a lot of
jobs, clown, lab technician,

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mortgage lender,
teacher, to name a few.

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She is one of those
rare souls who is always

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absorbing how the world works.

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And she's so, so smart
that she continually

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manages to bring both the
small and large lessons

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to bear in her writing.

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Her fiction is shapely.

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It is lyrical, yet comes
straight at big issues,

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genetic engineering, gender,
class, population control,

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you name it.

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They would sink work
less carefully wrought.

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How carefully wrought?

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Yesterday, Drake spoke to
one of the graduate classes

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about her work on the
terrific Clown Girl.

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Three years to get it right.

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Then three years to
fine-tune the humor.

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Then three more years to make
sure that every character was

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rounded, and treated fairly.

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That none of them
was a straw dog.

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We were lucky to
have such a writer

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in our midst for three years.

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And we're lucky
to have her back.

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[APPLAUSE]

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