Before tonight's event, this is a particularly busy time
for poetry in Tucson and you may be having trouble keeping
track with everything that's about to happen
so here's an update.
On Saturday, April 11th, the "Among Other Things"
series will be sponsoring a reading by Jefferson Carter,
Luellen Fletcher, Dave Maine, and Hugh Steinberg.
That's Saturday at 8:00 at the new Ortspace.
On Sunday, at Antigone Books on Fifth Street at 7:30 PM,
poet Beverly Dahlen will be reading.
Next Wednesday, April 15th, six of our stellar MFA candidates
who are finishing this semester will be reading here.
That reading will include Jennifer Rocco, Susan Collard,
Robert Kaplan, Ed Walker, John Cosco, and Andy Werblin.
And, finally, on Thursday, April 16th at 4:00, there
will be a talk at the Downtown Public
Library in Tucson on the new Chicano-Chicana poetry.
That talk will be given by Ana Perches and Joe Huerta
and that's in conjunction with the Poetry Center's
30th Anniversary exhibit of materials from the collection.
Tonight, we're delighted to welcome back Galway Kinnell.
The last time he read in Tucson was 1978 at one
of the most interesting and curious cultural events
in our literary history.
I found in looking through the archives
that this reading was much more than a reading.
In fact, eight poets came to town,
and first played a tennis tournament
at a dude ranch in Wickenburg--
it's true-- And then came to town
and read at what must have been one
of the great poetic marathons in Tucson.
Among the readers were Galway Kinnell,
Marvin Bell, Bill Matthews, Stephen Dunn, Dave Smith,
and others.
It's been too long since Mr. Kinnell has been here
and we're delighted that he's back.
He's the author of 10 books of poetry.
Most recently, When One Has Lived A Long Time Alone,
published in 1990 by Knopf.
He's won most of the awards that American poets
can win, including a MacArthur Fellowship and two Guggenheims.
He's the state poet of Vermont, which state he
lives in part of the time.
He also lives in New York.
During the past 20 years, he has taught poetry
at colleges and universities in this country,
as well as in France and Australia.
Earlier in his professional life,
he ran an adult education program in Chicago
and was a field worker for the Congress of Racial Equality
in Louisiana.
Certainly, because of the compelling music
and the emotional authenticity and complexity of his work,
he is one of our most compelling and loved poets.
Please welcome back Galway Kinnell.
[APPLAUSE]