Hi, I'm Aaron, as Tyler mentioned earlier.
I'm sorry I didn't bring Monty.
He doesn't appreciate the arts.
Yeah.
So I-- for those of you who don't know,
this is my third year in the MFA.
And for three years, I have been asking
to bring Fernando Flores to the University to read.
Actually, I just want to talk to him.
You didn't even have to read.
I just wanted you here.
And for three years, I've been told maybe.
And finally, in my last semester, we got you here,
and I'm so excited.
In fact, when Manuel told me that you were going to be here,
my response was, oh my goodness, is this the apocalypse?
I think I hear the sounds of heaven.
And that's probably still true.
I'm not entirely sure, I haven't looked up at the sky yet.
Please tell me, somebody, at the end of this
if the world is ending.
This might be a dream of mine.
But as I've been saying, Fernando
has been an influence on me for a while.
We're both from South Texas, which
when I discovered I was incredibly surprised
by because my entire life I've been told that nobody
comes from South Texas.
Nobody.
The only person that did was Gloria Anzaldúa
and the lady who directed Twilight, who hated the Valley.
She was like, it's a cultural cesspool,
and who knows if she's right?
But I'm also glad that Fernando was there to prove her wrong,
that it's not a cultural cesspool.
That being said, he did abandon it and go to Austin.
Yeah.
I should probably talk about his work.
Valleyesque is my personal favorite of Fernando's work,
because it does take place in the Valley
and focuses on the Valley, and I've assigned it to my students
for three semesters in a row.
Do they like it?
I believe so.
They wouldn't tell me otherwise, but I think the thing
that they do value is the craft of it.
We spend so much time talking about the creativity,
the absurdity, the word choices.
We spent an entire 30 minutes one semester
talking about the word stamped-- in one of his stories instead
of stamp, it said stamped.
And we spent 30 minutes just talking about that,
and I was so excited.
And I think I annoyed the class, but that's fine.
They paid to be there.
Brother Brontë, which has been recently longlisted
for the PEN/Faulkner, which round of applause for that,
please.
[APPLAUSE]
I've only had the fortune of reading once.
That's the lowest of any of Fernando's work
that I've read, in part, because my copy is being held hostage
by a friend of mine, and I would not return it,
or they will not get it back until I return her Anne Carson,
which I have lost in my moves.
So maybe I'll buy another Brother Brontë today,
which I encourage you to do.
Fantastic book.
Yeah.
I don't know what else to say other than he is my idol,
and welcome, Fernando Flores.