[APPLAUSE]
Hi, everybody.
Thanks for being here.
I always like to joke with Tyler that he's
introducing the introducers and introducing
the next introducer after the introducer introduces
the reader.
Anyway, thank you all for being here.
I want to speak before I introduce Rodrigo.
I want to talk a little bit about the distinguished visitors
in creative writing series.
This is a really long running series, actually,
I think it goes back to the early 2000.
I see Alison nodding her head.
And it's a series that is curated by creative writing
faculty, which don't usually curate the readings
at the Poetry Center.
The Poetry Center is its own entity.
We are the teachers in the creative writing program
that curate this series.
And for a long time it was called the prose series
because we were like, oh, man the poets
are getting a lot of love at the Poetry Center,
but we want to bring some prose writers.
And it's a really-- we have an illustrious past.
David Foster Wallace has read here,
Cherríe Moraga, Denis Johnson, Cristina Rivera Garza,
George Saunders.
So heavy hitters.
We've been bringing heavy hitters to town for a long time.
Tonight is no exception.
So in the fall, we're going to do
a little bit of a relaunch, reimagining of this series.
In the past, many of you have been to these readings,
we've done alumni readings as part of this series,
so we're bringing people who graduated from our program
as MFAs, and we always lump them together,
and they have a reading, where we celebrate them.
So now we're trying to integrate them with these heavy hitters
so that we can put our--
we can put our MFA alums in conversation
with these other writers who are out in the world
every time you come to a distinguished visitors
and creative writing reading.
So the reason I'm telling you this,
this is kind of like the part that
gets a little bit like an NPR fundraising drive.
So one of our alums, who actually read here
last semester, you may remember him, Josh Riedel, he
pitched in some funds, a matching challenge.
Right now the U of A is doing this Giving Day challenge,
which the reason I'm talking to you about this
is it was supposed to end today at noon,
but they had some technical difficulties.
So they have extended the challenge, which is great for us
tonight.
So they're extending the challenge,
which means you could give, if you want to,
if you haven't already.
And if I had known about this, I would have made a QR code.
Is that what people do?
So you're going to have to find it.
You're going to have to Google.
You're going to have to Google distinguished visitors
and creative writing UA Giving Day challenge.
Try to remember some of those words.
And then when you click give, there'll
be a dropdown list, which is confusingly
the one you want to select is the creative writing
fund for excellence.
Just remember creative writing, that'll get you there.
That'll get you there.
Creative writing, that's what we do here.
OK, the NPR part is over.
Now I'm going to tell you about Rodrigo Restrepo Montoya, who's
about to read.