The reading will coincide with a visit to Penn by Harry Mathews. Nick is curating an exhibition of Mathews' papers, which are now housed in the Penn Library. Mathews is the only American member of the Oulipo, author of the The Journalist, Cigarettes, and several other novels, essay collections, and short story collections. The Mathews' exhibition will open with a reception on Thursday, February 12th.
I'm looking forward to seeing Harry again, and to reading with Nick and William. It will be the first time that William and I have done a reading of The Unknown since March 2002 in California. Harry's a wonderful writer, a raconteur, and a connoisseur. I had a great evening with Harry, Joe Tabbi, and Rob Wittig back in Chicago a couple years ago.