We're really glad you guys are here.
We're glad that Timothy Liu is here.
Timothy got waylaid on his way in
and was forced to reroute from Houston through Phoenix
to Tucson.
So we're really glad that he made it
and that there were no complications
and he wasn't doing this by Skype from a hotel
room in Houston.
Not many stories that begin where
you had to get here from Phoenix end well,
but we're going to change the narrative tonight.
So we're really excited that he's here
and that he persevered and happy to have him here.
I want to tell you quickly that the reading tonight is
sponsored by the UA Foundation Community Connections
grant as well as a grant from Poets & Writers.
Books are for sale after the reading
and I'm sure Timothy would be willing to sign them.
And they're up here and Mary and Barrie
are here to sell you those.
So make use of your dollars and buy books.
You'll have a moment or two.
That's right.
And there will be-- and we'll have a moment.
There will be a Q and A after the reading
and there are slips of paper that I
think have made their way out into the audience.
And so if you have questions, write it
down on the piece of paper, pass it
into the center of the aisle.
We'll grab those and we'll ask the questions afterwards.
I will quickly just plug a couple of upcoming things
that are happening at the Center.
This Saturday, the 22nd, is a Family Days.
The theme is international travel.
Be very excited.
Family Days is programming where we
do open-house style program for kids, young and not so young,
think passports but not layovers.
It should be good.
We won't make the kids sit for two hours with nothing to do.
March 6th is a Prose Series reading
and that will feature Lucy Corin and Susan Steinberg
and that's here in the Rubel Room.
March 8th coming up--
it's two Saturdays away--
is the regional semifinals of the Poetry Out Loud competition
and that's here.
And that's in the middle of the day.
And so we hope you guys will be interested in some
of that programming and come and attend.
What I want to do really quickly--
I'll introduce Sylvia Chan, who's
here to introduce Timothy.
Sylvia is in the second year of her-- finishing her MFA here
at the U of A. She is a docent extraordinaire
at the Poetry Center, one of the many wonderful docents
that are the heartbeat of how this place gets
a lot of its work done.
And so we're really thrilled that she's here
to introduce him.
So Sylvia, without further ado.
Thanks for being here.