We have a very exciting series planned this semester.
And if you did not receive one of our advertising brochures,
there's a big stack out on the refreshment table.
And there's a stack here beside the lectern.
Be sure and pick one up.
Our next reading will be two weeks from tonight.
And Gary Soto will be reading for us.
The week following Mr. Soto, we'll bring back to this campus
Li-Young Lee, who was a student here at one time.
And we're very happy to be having him as a visitor.
And then we have a very exciting joint reading
by Vivian Gornick and Mary Elsie Robertson,
who are both on the creative writing faculty.
Maxine Kumin will be visiting for us in March,
and Linda Hogan will be the final visitor
of the year in April.
And three student readings are scheduled.
And a number of readings for Writers at Work.
Writers at Work will begin their season next Wednesday night
with a reading by Ron Steffens and Barbara Kingsolver.
The Writers at Work sponsor fiction readings.
Everything is in this auditorium,
and everything is at 8 o'clock.
Copies of Sonora Review will be on sale tonight in the lobby.
Sonora Review is a beautiful national magazine
that's produced by students in the MFA program
here at the university.
WS Merwin first visited us in 1969.
And it's been a great pleasure to call him
our friend since then.
He's come to Tucson several times
and read not only for the Poetry Center
but for Pima College and the Poetry Festival.
And came, sometimes, and just visited and had
a good time with all of us.
It's such a pleasure to have him back.
I called him and I said, this is my last semester.
And he said, OK, OK, I'll come.
I didn't have to whine or cry at all.
It was just wonderful.
He's published 14 books of poetry, most recently,
The Rain in the Trees and Selected Poems.
Also, books of nonfiction, books of memoirs.
He's won all the major awards.
As my husband introduced him several years ago,
he is a man who needs no introduction.
I present to you WS Merwin.
[APPLAUSE]