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Inprint Brown Reading Series: Dorianne Laux & Patricia Smith

Presented by Inprint at Alley Theatre -- Patricia Peckinpaugh Hubbard Stage

April 12, 2010

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Now in its 29th year, Inprint is proud to present the 2009/2010 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, one of the finest reading series in the country, giving Houstonians a chance to hear from and meet some of the world’s leading writers. From September through May, 12 renowned authors will come to Houston, many for the first time, sharing their work and insights.

Since the readings series began, Inprint has hosted more than 300 of the world's great writers, including winners of 4 Nobel Prizes, 44 Pulitzer Prizes, and 43 National Book Awards. The Series ranks among the nation's leading literary showcases and continues to be accessible to all.

All readings take place on Mondays at 7:30 pm (doors open at 6:45). Each reading features an on-stage interview, followed by a book sale and signing, run by Brazos Bookstore.

2009-2010 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series Schedule:

Joseph O'Neill & Marilynne Robinson
September 21, 2009
Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby

E.L. Doctorow
October 19, 2009
Hubbard Stage, Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue

Mary Karr
January 11, 2010
Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby

David Wroblewski
January 25, 2010
Hubbard Stage, Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue

John Banville & Abraham Verghese
March 1, 2010
Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby

Tracy Kidder
March 22, 2010
Hubbard Stage, Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue

Dorianne Laux & Patricia Smith
April 12, 2010
Neuhaus Stage, Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue

DORIANNE LAUX, before becoming an award-winning poet, worked as a sanatorium cook, a gas station manager, a maid, and a donut holer. Tony Hoagland calls her work the poetry of “one who looks clearly, passionately, and affectionately at rites of passage, motherhood, the life of work, sisterhood, and especially sexual love, in a celebratory fashion.”Publishers Weekly says, “Laux works in the idiom of Philip Levine and Sharon Olds, yet Laux’s best verse is perhaps more surprising than theirs.”

She is the author of four volumes of poetry, including Smoke, Awake, and Facts About the Moon, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, as was an earlier collection, What We Carry. She is also the author, with Kim Addonizio, of The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry.

PATRICIA SMITH (pictured), as well-known on the stage as on the page, is a four-time winner of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful slammer to date. Smith’s fifth collection of poetry, Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist and named one of NPR’s Top 5 books for 2008, is “a towering testament to the tragedy of New Orleans before, during, and after Katrina” (Booklist). Terrance Hayes says, "Smith is herself a storm of beautiful, fightening talent. Her words will wash you or wash you away. I consider this new book a major literary event."

Smith’s earlier collection, Teahouse of the Almighty, was selected for the National Poetry Series and was awarded the first ever Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. She was also featured in the film, Slamnation, on the HBO series, Def Poetry Jam.

Oscar Casares & Gwendolyn Zepeda
May 3, 2010
Hubbard Stage, Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue