There's so much going on, that if I
take the time to make all the announcements,
you won't have any time to listen to Jim Tate.
So we brought a large number of the last issue
to Creative Writing Newsletter, and they're out
on the refreshment table.
And they announce the upcoming events.
But for the benefit of those of you who can't read,
I will announce some of them anyway.
The fourth Tucson Poetry Festival
is this weekend, at the community center's
little theater.
And they really have a wonderful all-star cast this year.
The readings begin Friday night at 7:30.
And the first readers are the Dark Bob and Simon Ortiz.
On Saturday morning, there are workshops.
Saturday afternoon, there's an open mic reading, and a panel
on poetry and politics.
Saturday evening, the festival's contest winner,
Carolyn Anderson of Prescott will read.
Our own Sandra Demarest will read,
and Denise Levertov will be here to read.
At Sunday noon, there's a book signing
by Diane Wakowski and Richard Shelton from their new books
out from Sun Gemini Press at noon.
Dorothy Lykes from Phoenix will be reading at 2 o'clock,
followed by performance by the Arizona Dance Theater.
And the festival will end with the reading by W. S. Merwin.
So it's a wonderful weekend ahead of us.
Writers at Work is sponsoring a reading next Wednesday,
the novelist Richard Ford.
And that will be at the Terrace Lounge of the Student Union.
And our next reading will be--
when is our next reading?
Wednesday, March 26th.
And that will be to honor the students whose work has been
accepted for publication in Persona,
the undergraduate magazine and that
will be at the University Art Museum.
So all of that that I just said is in here,
and it's out on the table.
So don't ask me any questions.
James Tate last read for us at either 1968 or 1967,
so we thought it was time.
Then he came again, as he said, probably
half the people in the audience weren't
born the last time he was here.
He of course, was only a child at the time.
So he's teaching at the University of Massachusetts
in Amherst, living in Amherst.
His most recent book is Constant Defender.
Other books of poetry are Riven Doggeries, Viper Jazz,
Hottentot Ossuary, I love that title.
Absences, Hints to Pilgrims, The Oblivion Ha-ha, The Torches,
Row With Your Hair, and The Lost Pilot,
which was the winner of the Yale Series of Younger
Poets in 1967.
He's received the usual honors and awards,
and his work appears in many magazines and anthologies.
It's a real pleasure to have him back with us, James Tate.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
It is nice to be here actually for a number of reasons.
A lot of friends here, and the gorgeous weather.
I haven't seen the ground in four months.
I'm going to read poems from my last two books,
and then from a few new poems.