Hello.
Good evening.
Welcome.
Hello.
I am Frances Sjoberg, and I am happy to welcome
all of the first year graduate students who are here.
I don't know how many of you are first year graduate students,
but welcome, and for second years, welcome back.
We're excited to have as our first reading of the fall
semester our summer resident, Cody Walker, who
happens to be here into August because he was teaching up--
finishing up a class he was teaching at University
of Washington.
And so he's doing a late summer residency.
And we are very fortunate because we're
able to introduce him to the MFA students here.
I'll just give a brief introduction to Cody.
And then let him come up and speak for himself.
He teaches English, as I mentioned,
at the University of Washington, and poetry as part
of the Seattle Arts and Lecturers' Writers
in the Schools program.
He was awarded the 2003 James Boatwright III prize for poetry
from Shenandoah.
Are you saying Aw, pshaw, or--?
No, no, no.
We should have modest business, you know.
[INAUDIBLE]
And his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Best New Poet
2005, Prairie Schooner, Margie, Hayden's Ferry Review,
Spinning Jenny, The Green City Review, The Madison Review,
Light, and elsewhere.
His manuscript, "Shuffle and Breakdown",
was chosen as a 2005 finalist for Waywiser Press' Anthony
Hecht Poetry Prize, and Margie/IntuiT House' First
Poetry Book award.
He is our judge for the 2006 Hattie Lockett
undergraduate awards.
And he will also be heading back up to Seattle
after his resident here-- residency here,
to become the poet in residence for the Richard Hugo House.
Please welcome Cody Walker.
Thank you.