Hello, everyone, and welcome.
My name is Gail Browne.
I'm executive director here at the Poetry Center.
Thanks for coming out tonight.
We have a Q and A with Fanny Howe.
We're very happy to have her with us.
Last night, poet Michael Rerick, sitting back there,
led us in a great, lively, provocative Shop Talk
on Fanny's poetry.
But tonight, we have the opportunity
to ask her directly what we've been
longing to know about her work, about her approach
to her craft.
And I want to welcome you back tomorrow night at 7 o'clock
right here to hear Fanny read.
This event is made possible through a grant
from the National Endowment for the Arts and contributions
from people like you.
Tonight, we are especially grateful to our Walt Whitman
Circle members.
And if you'd like to make a contribution to the Center
or learn more about the Walt Whitman program,
feel free to grab me later afterwards on this reading,
or speak to the ladies, our docents, Mary and Jessie
at the table, where they will also
be happy to sell books to you.
And Fanny will sign them later after the Q and A.
Fanny Howe is the author of over 30 books,
including poetry, fiction, and essays.
Many of us have been reading her 2009
book of essays, Winter's Son--
Notes on a Vocation, and her most recent book of poetry,
Come and See.
Fanny taught for many years with the University
of California, San Diego.
And she just left this post as a writer in residence
at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice
in Georgetown University.
She lives in Massachusetts.
And we're grateful to have her back with us here in Tucson
after nearly 10 years.
How this is going to work is Fanny
is going to come up here and sit right here and talk to us.
And because we're recording-- we're audio recording this
presentation--
Cybele over there will probably repeat your question
after you ask it so we make sure to get everything on tape.
So please welcome Fanny Howe.
[APPLAUSE]