When I came here in 1987, nobody mistook me for C.E. Poverman.
I'll tell you, though, a little story I was telling at dinner.
When C.E. Poverman came to read at Iowa when I was
in the Workshop--
that was about 10 years before I came here--
we were all really excited to hear him read from his
award-winning collection, Black Velvet Girl,
and the director of the program took me aside--
I don't know if he just thought I was, like, really
more shallow than everybody else-- and he said,
you really do want to go because he's really good-looking.
[LAUGHTER]
So, it's a special pleasure for me
to introduce the critically acclaimed author and my friend,
C.E. Poverman, at this event, heralding his new novel,
Love by Drowning.
C.E. Poverman completed his graduate-- undergraduate work
at Yale and received a Master of Fine Arts degree
from the University of Iowa.
As a Fulbright scholar, he taught at St. Xavier's College
in India.
In 1977, he joined the faculty of the Creative Writing Program
at the University of Arizona.
Now, as a professor emeritus, he is able to devote himself fully
to his writing.
The winner of numerous prizes and fellowships--
I'll call him Buzz now, OK?
Buzz received the prestigious Iowa School of Letters Award
for Short Fiction for his first collection, Black Velvet Girl.
His second collection, Skin, was nominated for the Los Angeles
Times Book Prize.
His stories have appeared in the O. Henry, Pushcart,
and other anthologies.
His previous novels are Susan, Solomon's Daughter,
My Father in Dreams, and On the Edge.
I became one of Buzz's fans as soon
as I heard him read from Black Velvet Girl.
From the very start, I was struck
by the sensitivity and humanity present in his work.
He was and remains remarkable for his ability
to write not only with keen intelligence and artistry
but also great tenderness about relationships between friends,
family members, and lovers.
In Love by Drowning, his depiction
of his main character's feelings of sorrow, frustration,
and helplessness at his inability
to connect with his son is a marvel.
I had the good luck to join the Creative Writing faculty in '87
and was around during the many years
that Buzz worked tirelessly and passionately on what eventually
became Love by Drowning.
I know that many of you in the audience
are the author's former students, colleagues, and fans
and some of you may be aware that it
took a long time for the book to find
the right publisher, the fine El Leon Literary Arts, which
is also the publisher of Karl Marlantes's Matterhorn, which
is a great, great novel and got so much acclaim,
and I hope that they can do for Buzz what
they did for Marlantes's book.
Buzz has recently finished another novel,
and he's writing a screenplay based on The Black Velvet Girl.
It was very good to read.
His closing words in a recent interview with the Arizona
Daily Star, "I'm just getting started."
C.E. Poverman.
[APPLAUSE]