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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Book Notes: Wrigley’s poetry takes turn at GU writers series

Poet Robert Wrigley will read Wednesday at Gonzaga University.

Next up in the Gonzaga University’s Visiting Writers Series: Robert Wrigley.

Wrigley, an award-winning poet who teaches at the University of Idaho, will read from his works at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Cataldo Hall Globe Room. He’ll participate in a question-and-answer session earlier in the day from 1:10 to 2 p.m. in the Foley Teleconference Room. Both events will be free.

He also will be reading at Spokane Falls Community College, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, in Building 24, Room 110. Admission is free.

Wrigley is a former Guggenheim Foundation fellow and two-time National Endowment for the Arts fellow. He has published eight books of poetry and is scheduled to release “The Church of Omnivorous Light” next year. He’s won six Pushcart Prizes, the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award, Poetry magazine’s Frederick Bock Prize, the Poetry Society of America’s Celia B. Wagner Award and many others. He and his wife, writer Kim Barnes, live near Moscow.

For more information on the series, visit www.gonzaga.edu.>

Laughter ahead

If poetry’s not your thing, David Sedaris will be in town the same night. The humorist will read from his works at 7:30 p.m. at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox. Tickets are $37.50-$47.50 through TicketsWest, (800) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.>

Sedaris rose to prominence on the NPR program “This American Life.” His story “The SantaLand Diaries” – about his stint as an elf at Macy’s – has become a holiday classic. His stories typically start off normally enough, but then veer wildly, weirdly off course. In the story “Understanding Owls” in a recent issue of The New Yorker, Sedaris writes about searching for a stuffed owl for his boyfriend only to stumble upon one highly disturbed North London taxidermist.

He has eight published collections to his name and according to his agency, a ninth – “Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls” – will be out next year.