Right after the new year, I'll be heading to Pine Manor College, just outside Boston, to serve as guest faculty in the Solstice MFA program's winter session. On January 6, I'll teach a class on the lyric essay, followed by a reading that evening. And the reason I'm mentioning this now is because my class also welcomes auditors. For a mere 40 bucks, you, too, can hang out and read Seneca, but registration closes on December 18, so make up your mind quickly. (I think the reading is free and open to the public, but I'll get back to you about that.)

All this essay stuff seems like good timing, given that The Vagabond's Bookshelf is finally in production. Nonetheless, it is strange to think that I'll have to treat the book as a new entity. One of the chapters is about reading Tolstoy while giving birth, and now the child I was waiting for has turned 18 and applied to college.