It's a pleasure to introduce Gary Soto to you this evening.
I've known Gary for about 15 years
and read his poetry for longer than that going back
to the early '70s.
I've had the privilege of having him heard--
having heard him read on numerous occasions,
three times now in Tucson.
And I know that his audience has always
come away moved by his poetry.
I'm sure that tonight will be no exception.
Gary was born and raised in Fresno, California,
and has lived for most of his adult life in the Bay Area,
Berkeley.
He taught for many years at UC Berkeley
and has just been appointed to a distinguished professorship
at the University of California at Riverside.
He's the author of nine poetry collections for adults
as well as numerous works of fiction, including
fiction for young adults.
His poems have appeared in many poetry magazines and journals
including Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, Ontario Review,
and most frequently in Poetry.
Poetry, the magazine, honored him with the Bess Hoskins Prize
and Levinson Award and featured him in Poets in Person.
He has guest edited a special issue of Ploughshares.
He's received the Discovery/The Nation Prize.
The California Library Association John and Patricia
Beatty Award, twice.
A recognition of merit from the Claremont Graduate
School for his fiction work, Baseball In April.
The silver medal from the Commonwealth Club
of California and the Tomás Rivera prize
in addition to fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation,
the National Endowment for the Arts,
twice, and the California Arts Council.
For ITVS, he produced the film, The Pool Party,
which received the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal.
This year he has been honored with the Human and Civil Rights
Award from the American Education Association
as well as a Hispanic Heritage Award on September 13.
This last award, a black tie affair at Lincoln Center,
will be broadcast nationally on NBC on October 3.
Consult your local listings.
He shared the stage with, among others, Plácido Domingo.
His books for adults and for young people
have sold over a million copies.
I'd like to read just a few of the titles
but by no means all of them because we'd be here longer
than reading his poetry.
His earliest book, The Elements Of San Joaquin,
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977.
And then the following three, again
from the University of Pittsburgh Press, The Tale
of Sunlight, 1978; Where Sparrows Work Hard, 1981; Black
Hair, 1985; Neighborhood Odes, Harcourt, Brace,
1992; New and Selected Poems, Chronicle Books, 1995;
and then most recently, A Natural Man,
published by Chronicle Books, which was just published
last week and is available I think outside for signing
and purchasing.
Gary Soto's New and Selected Poems, this book,
which is also available in the lobby--
was a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award
and the National Book Award.
His recollections, Living Up The Street, a prose work,
received a Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award.
His most recent collection of poetry is, as I just said,
A Natural Man.
Like much of his poetry, many of the poems in this 1999
collection are bittersweet, ranging from wry humor
to regret and disappointment.
Reading his poetry is to experience a range of emotions
from laughter, to sadness, often in the same poem.
To hear him read his poetry is always a joy.
Please welcome Gary Soto.
[APPLAUSE]