L to R: Melissa Kirsch, Michael Narducci, April Wilder, student moderator Josh Duke

“It’s what occupies the space of a literary life outside of New York,” wrote a wistful Richard Ford in the New Yorker in 1998, remembering neither Yaddo nor Shakespeare & Co., but the 1977 Southern Methodist University Literary Festival in Dallas. This was the glittering annual colloquium where Ford first met Raymond Carver—and where Carver first met his second wife, Tess Gallagher—where Cheever, Styron and Bellow headlined readings and their liquor-soaked afterparties. Alas, due to lack of funds and other bureaucratic hurdles, the Fest has lain dormant for over a decade.

Read the rest of the story at Galleycat.

I’ll be “appearing” (like a vision from heaven) at the SMU Literary Festival April 16-17. It’s going to be pretty fantastic, and it’s no secret how much I love Texas.

Here’s the schedule. You might consider getting a cheap flight to the Big D even if you’re not in town, because my brilliant comrade April Wilder will also be there and she’s nothing less than a rollicking good time.

Here’s the schedule:
Thursday, April 16th
2:00 pm: Student luncheon with the Writers (Dallas Hall Reading Room)
4:30 pm: Informal Panel Discussion with Melissa Kirsch, Michael Narducci, and April Wilder, Stanley Marcus Reading Room, DeGolyer Library

Friday, April 17th
5:00 pm: Reception, Texana Room, DeGolyer Library
6:00 pm: Tracy Winn reading, Stanley Marcus Reading Room, DeGolyer Library
7:00 pm: Intermission, Texana Room, DeGolyer Library
7:30 pm: Scott Blackwood reading, Stanley Marcus Reading Room, DeGolyer Library

I’ll be the one having a rib-eye for breakfast.