WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.170 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:01.170 --> 00:00:01.890 align:middle line:90% I'm Cybele. 00:00:01.890 --> 00:00:06.030 align:middle line:84% And I'm very honored to introduce Aurelie Sheehan. 00:00:06.030 --> 00:00:10.290 align:middle line:84% I met Aurelie first in 2005 when I joined the MFA program. 00:00:10.290 --> 00:00:14.070 align:middle line:84% Aurelie was my teacher, and I was a fiction MFA student. 00:00:14.070 --> 00:00:15.880 align:middle line:84% And I don't know if you know this about me, 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:19.812 align:middle line:84% but as an MFA student, I was kind of feeble. 00:00:19.812 --> 00:00:21.270 align:middle line:84% I was like one of those houseplants 00:00:21.270 --> 00:00:23.790 align:middle line:84% that you find at the garden section at Home Depot. 00:00:23.790 --> 00:00:26.790 align:middle line:84% And you buy it on a whim because it's really cheap. 00:00:26.790 --> 00:00:29.760 align:middle line:84% And it's not until you get back home and you realize-- 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.560 align:middle line:90% this plant is sick. 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:33.840 align:middle line:90% It has a disease. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.360 align:middle line:84% Maybe its leaves are coated with powdery mildew, 00:00:36.360 --> 00:00:39.642 align:middle line:84% or its stems are rotting slowly from the inside out. 00:00:39.642 --> 00:00:41.850 align:middle line:84% And the best thing to do, at this point with a plant, 00:00:41.850 --> 00:00:44.520 align:middle line:84% is throw it away, just throw it, get rid of it. 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:48.810 align:middle line:84% But because you spent $5.99 plus tax on it, you want to save it. 00:00:48.810 --> 00:00:51.630 align:middle line:84% So you buy it sprays and give it food. 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:53.282 align:middle line:84% And you move it around from place 00:00:53.282 --> 00:00:55.740 align:middle line:84% to place-- sunny, shady, trying to figure out what it likes 00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:57.060 align:middle line:90% and what it needs. 00:00:57.060 --> 00:00:58.920 align:middle line:84% And with love and care, you keep it going-- 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:02.670 align:middle line:84% although it never completely recovers from its illness. 00:01:02.670 --> 00:01:04.500 align:middle line:84% And that's what Aurelie was like to me. 00:01:04.500 --> 00:01:08.920 align:middle line:84% She definitely kept me alive through the MFA program. 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:11.970 align:middle line:84% And I'm sure she's been that way to many other MFA students, 00:01:11.970 --> 00:01:12.720 align:middle line:90% as well-- 00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:15.060 align:middle line:84% both the hardy, flourishing ones, 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:18.330 align:middle line:84% and us stumpy, semi-blighted ones. 00:01:18.330 --> 00:01:20.940 align:middle line:84% She keeps us going not only through individualized care 00:01:20.940 --> 00:01:23.910 align:middle line:84% and deep attention, but also through her intelligence, 00:01:23.910 --> 00:01:27.300 align:middle line:84% grace, and the example she sets for us as a writer 00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:29.550 align:middle line:90% and as a person. 00:01:29.550 --> 00:01:30.900 align:middle line:90% Aurelie is a fiction writer. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:33.630 align:middle line:84% Her latest book, Jewelry Box, is a collection 00:01:33.630 --> 00:01:35.800 align:middle line:90% of short prose pieces. 00:01:35.800 --> 00:01:38.430 align:middle line:90% What are those pieces, exactly? 00:01:38.430 --> 00:01:41.010 align:middle line:84% A recent review of Jewelry Box that appeared in the journal 00:01:41.010 --> 00:01:44.220 align:middle line:84% Inside Higher Ed perfectly describes, I think, 00:01:44.220 --> 00:01:48.000 align:middle line:84% the form of the book as a collection of "micro-fictions, 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.330 align:middle line:84% flash memoirs, prose poems, incidents, anecdotes, 00:01:51.330 --> 00:01:54.240 align:middle line:84% extended metaphors-- there's no differentiation 00:01:54.240 --> 00:01:56.790 align:middle line:84% on the book's part, nor is there much need, 00:01:56.790 --> 00:01:59.610 align:middle line:84% as most of the pieces are glittering little truths, 00:01:59.610 --> 00:02:02.310 align:middle line:90% whether factual or not. 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:05.220 align:middle line:84% I think that the truth contained in Aurelie's fiction 00:02:05.220 --> 00:02:07.920 align:middle line:84% very often has to do with a central paradox 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.100 align:middle line:84% of embodied life, its importance unimportance. 00:02:12.100 --> 00:02:15.240 align:middle line:84% So vivid and dear, but so undeniably fleeting, 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:17.760 align:middle line:84% instantly forgotten, and translucent, 00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:21.330 align:middle line:84% that we must somehow both hold tight and let go. 00:02:21.330 --> 00:02:24.930 align:middle line:84% This necessary dynamism moves in and through all of Aurelie's 00:02:24.930 --> 00:02:28.068 align:middle line:90% beautiful prose work." 00:02:28.068 --> 00:02:29.610 align:middle line:84% Her other books include a short story 00:02:29.610 --> 00:02:33.300 align:middle line:84% collection titled Jack Kerouac Is Pregnant, and two novels-- 00:02:33.300 --> 00:02:36.180 align:middle line:84% History Lesson for Girls and The Anxiety of Everyday 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:38.970 align:middle line:84% Objects-- she's really good with titles. 00:02:38.970 --> 00:02:40.770 align:middle line:84% A new novella titled This Blue will 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:44.580 align:middle line:84% be issued in January as a Ploughshares Solo e-book, 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:47.010 align:middle line:84% and then later anthologized in print. 00:02:47.010 --> 00:02:49.740 align:middle line:84% And also, Aurelie just found out that the UA Press 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:52.080 align:middle line:84% will be publishing her collection of linked 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:53.280 align:middle line:90% short stories. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:55.140 align:middle line:90% The book comes out in 2014. 00:02:55.140 --> 00:02:57.240 align:middle line:84% The stories are set in Tucson, and the book 00:02:57.240 --> 00:02:58.500 align:middle line:90% has a great title-- 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:01.320 align:middle line:90% Demigods on Speedway. 00:03:01.320 --> 00:03:02.970 align:middle line:90% I know, I can't wait. 00:03:02.970 --> 00:03:04.620 align:middle line:90% Help me welcome Aurelie. 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:05.870 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]