Eric,

Fine with me to invite only Stallings; (maybe we can slate Salach for the
following year?)

Kizer has not been officially invited, and since I've spoken with her I'd
be happy to invite her to get the ball rolling. Or it might be nice for
David to do it since he hasn't Sprinted in a while?  Either way we need to
know the best dates to ask her to come.  And to know for sure the extra
housing funding will be available.

Butler would be Fabulous. I'd say let's do whatever we can to help.

Annie


>        I'd like especially to hear from the poets regarding next year, so
>we can
>get everything lined up.
>
>        1)  Has someone officially invited Carolyn Kizer for the Sprint
>Course?  I
>think it would be great.  She read this year at AWP, and it was an
>outstanding reading.  Perhaps, if she was really willing to stay on for two
>weeks, we could use a bit extra from the Cooke fund to supplement what
>would be available from the Sprint Course revenues, if necessary.  One fact
>to note, is that the university will only provide five nights of free
>housing, I believe.  If we wanted to get her more free days than that, it
>will involve some scrambling, and still might be do-able.  So some funding
>would have to be reserved for housing.
>
>        2)  Are all those poets really coming?  Constanzo, Drury and Kramer?
>
>        3)  What about the Margery Cooke fund?  It's built up quite a bit,
>sufficient to have someone truly first rate for next year.  But if we are
>to invite someone of that caliber, it needs to happen this spring, I think.
> Or, if Kizer is coming, is the thought to hold off yet another year?????
>Which would enable us to have big name poets in both 2000-2001, and
>2001-2002, while still reserving say $500, if necessary to pay for housing.
> It also might be possible to increase numbers in the Sprint Course--Debbie
>Kennedy from Fiction for example, to get revenues up, given the luminosity
>of Kizer's name.
>
>        4)  I understand that Annie wants to invite Salach and Stallings, and
>David only wants to invite Stallings.  What about Jim and Keith?  My own
>feeling it that if all those others are coming, that either Salach or
>Stallings is enough.  Budgetary constraints will limit us to 3 or 4 fiction
>writers.  I should think that 6 or 7 poets or 8 poets is enough.
>
>        5)  On the fiction side, at Constance's urging, I have invited
>novelist
>Sandra Scofield to teach the Sprint Course next spring.  Scofield has
>published 6 or 7 books, and been nominated for a National Book Aware,
>although I must admit I haven't read a word of it. She is very flexible on
>dates; I have tentatively invited her for the week after spring break, but
>she can come anytime during the spring, as she doesn't teach.  Let's
>coordinate this with poetry.
>
>        6)  Keith Banner will read in September.  I have also put out
>prelimary
>feelers to Molly Giles, the short story writer, whose first novel will be
>published next spring.  Giles, who taught for many years at San Francisco
>State, (Amy Tan her best known student), has just taken a Full Professor
>job at U. of Arkansas.
>
>        7)  I have pledged $500 to try to help bring Octavia Butler to campus.
>Cheryly Johnson is running with that ball.  The big problem is that Butler,
>who has a big money gig at UC only has Friday available for Miami.  I don't
>know if Cheryl is going to be able to arrange it or not.  She made a pretty
>large dollar promise to Butler's UC sponsor ($2000, I think, for a pick-up
>gig.) Whether or not she'll be able to raise the additional $1500 from
>other sources, I don't know.
>
>         Let me know what your think.
>
>
>        Eric



______________________________
Annie Finch (http://muohio.edu/~finchar)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing
Miami University