Poet and essayist to speak at UNT Sept. 25

Patricia Hampl, whose essays and poetry reflect her Czech heritage, will read selections from her work at UNT Sept. 25.

Hampl's reading, which has been rescheduled from a date last spring, begins at 8 p.m. in the University Union Silver Eagle Suite. The reading, free and open to the public, will begin the 2003-04 Visiting Writer Series sponsored by the English department.

A Regents Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, Hampl is the author of I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory. The book is a collection of essays focusing on her family's response to her personal writing, a secret that an old Czech émigré tries to confide in her, reflections on reading Walt Whitman during the Vietnam War, the ethics of writing about family and friends, and an early experience reviewing Sylvia Plath, among other topics. The book was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Her other works include Virgin Time and A Romantic Education, both memoirs; and two poetry collections, Resort and Other Poems and Woman Before an Aquarium. Hampl's latest book, The Silken Chamber, will be published in 2004 by Beacon Press. She is also currently completing a collection of short stories, The Bill Collector's Vacation, for publication in 2005.

A recipient of a Pushcart Prize, Hampl has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Three of her works were named "Notable Books" by the New York Times Book Review.

She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota and a master's degree from the University of Iowa.

BY NANCY KOLSTI nkolsti@unt.edu

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• UNT reaches all-time enrollment high for Fall 2003
• Legislative actions advance UNT Dallas project
• UNT celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
• Staff Council elects officers for 2003-04 year
• Families to share in Mean Green spirit Sept. 26-28
• Music industry supports musicians' health initiatives
• Interpretational change to holiday pay entitlement

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