WEBVTT

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When I came here in 1987, nobody
mistook me for C.E. Poverman.

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I'll tell you, though, a little
story I was telling at dinner.

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When C.E. Poverman came
to read at Iowa when I was

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in the Workshop--

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that was about 10 years
before I came here--

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we were all really excited
to hear him read from his

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award-winning collection,
Black Velvet Girl,

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and the director of the
program took me aside--

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I don't know if he just
thought I was, like, really

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more shallow than everybody
else-- and he said,

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you really do want to go because
he's really good-looking.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So, it's a special
pleasure for me

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to introduce the critically
acclaimed author and my friend,

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C.E. Poverman, at this event,
heralding his new novel,

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Love by Drowning.

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C.E. Poverman completed his
graduate-- undergraduate work

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at Yale and received a
Master of Fine Arts degree

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from the University of Iowa.

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As a Fulbright scholar, he
taught at St. Xavier's College

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in India.

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In 1977, he joined the faculty
of the Creative Writing Program

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at the University of Arizona.

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Now, as a professor emeritus, he
is able to devote himself fully

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to his writing.

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The winner of numerous
prizes and fellowships--

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I'll call him Buzz now, OK?

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Buzz received the prestigious
Iowa School of Letters Award

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for Short Fiction for his first
collection, Black Velvet Girl.

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His second collection, Skin, was
nominated for the Los Angeles

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Times Book Prize.

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His stories have appeared
in the O. Henry, Pushcart,

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and other anthologies.

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His previous novels are
Susan, Solomon's Daughter,

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My Father in Dreams,
and On the Edge.

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I became one of
Buzz's fans as soon

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as I heard him read
from Black Velvet Girl.

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From the very
start, I was struck

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by the sensitivity and
humanity present in his work.

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He was and remains
remarkable for his ability

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to write not only with keen
intelligence and artistry

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but also great tenderness about
relationships between friends,

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family members, and lovers.

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In Love by Drowning,
his depiction

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of his main character's
feelings of sorrow, frustration,

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and helplessness
at his inability

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to connect with his
son is a marvel.

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I had the good luck to join the
Creative Writing faculty in '87

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and was around
during the many years

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that Buzz worked tirelessly and
passionately on what eventually

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became Love by Drowning.

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I know that many of
you in the audience

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are the author's former
students, colleagues, and fans

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and some of you may
be aware that it

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took a long time
for the book to find

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the right publisher, the fine
El Leon Literary Arts, which

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is also the publisher of Karl
Marlantes's Matterhorn, which

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is a great, great novel
and got so much acclaim,

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and I hope that they
can do for Buzz what

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they did for Marlantes's book.

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Buzz has recently
finished another novel,

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and he's writing a screenplay
based on The Black Velvet Girl.

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It was very good to read.

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His closing words in a recent
interview with the Arizona

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Daily Star, "I'm just
getting started."

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C.E. Poverman.

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[APPLAUSE]

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