I’m excited to be reading in Iowa this week—at Prairie Lights tonight and at Grinnell College, with Saadi Simawe, on Thursday. Details of the PL reading tonight are below (the previous post) and the Grinnell reading is in the Rosenfield Center, Room 101, at 8 p.m. on Thursday evening.

Also, I just added a review to my reviews page! See a take on Love Marriage by Charles Sarvan, writing for Confluence magazine.

I am reading at one of my favorite bookstores in the world tomorrow: the estimable Prairie Lights, where I spent many hours as a graduate student. 7:30 p.m. Awesome! In fact, the state of Iowa is awesome. If you have any doubts about this, look at the photo above. That’s a rally in Iowa City, following the state Supreme Court’s decision that gay marriage will become legal here.

Thanks to my pal Laura for the photo.

Love Marriage made the Orange Prize longlist! And it’s in great company.

I am.

Interestingly, the article describes me as an expatriate. That’s not true, although I would be proud if it were—I think immigration takes a special brand of courage. That said, I was born American. And am equally happy with that!

(The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorite movies.)

Anywho, I saw this recent post from Matt Ruff, which reminded me that I had contributed to Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak: by Writers Famous and Obscure. Book’s out… now. I’ve got to get a copy! You should too

(Thanks for the compliment, Matt! I like his submission as well, and not just for reasons of reciprocal politeness. I’m a sucker for superhero references.

Thanks also to Jennifer 8. Lee of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles for telling me about the project.)