--reading.
Next Wednesday here there will be a reading by four
of the current MFA candidates who will
be graduating this semester.
The four people who will be reading
are Becky Byrkit, Gill Donovan, Andrea Kaiser,
and Teresa Terry.
So definitely try to come and hear
some of the work that's being done here,
and you won't be disappointed, I'm sure.
After the reading, there'll be books
for sale, compliments of the ASUA
bookstore out in the corridor.
We have two of Toi's books, Captivity and Empress
of the Death House.
And Empress of the Death House is being sold as a wondrous
bargain book, the price is only $3.50,
and with your ASUA discount, it's only $3.30.
So it's really a great chance to get a book bargain,
and you won't regret it, I'm sure.
I'm delighted to be able to introduce and welcome
Toi Derricotte to you tonight.
She is originally from Detroit, Michigan,
has published three collections of poetry,
Natural Birth, The Empress of the Death House,
and most recently, Captivity, from the University
of Pittsburgh Press.
Of Natural Birth, Adrienne Rich has
said, her words touch the reader as life
has touched her, soul and body.
This is a strong, sensuous, original, courageous book.
Since 1974, when her family became
one of the first Black families to move
into upper Montclair, New Jersey,
Toi Derricotte has also been working
on The Black Notebooks, a work of autobiographical prose.
She's won a number of national distinctions,
including two fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts, a Pushcart Prize, and the Folger
Shakespeare Library Poetry Committee Book Award,
among her other honors.
They ought to shorten the name of that award.
Toi writes poems of emotional necessity and power.
She's a wonderful presence to have among us.
Please welcome Toi Derricotte.
[APPLAUSE]