TESS GALLAHER TO CLOSE SEASON FOR PITT'S WRITERS SERIES

PITTSBURGH, March 19 -- Poet, short story writer and essayist Tess Gallagher, known for her contributions to the making of the Robert Altman Film "Short Cuts," will close the University of Pittsburgh's Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series with a reading on Tuesday, March 30, at 8:15 p.m. in David Lawrence Hall, Room 120.

Gallagher wrote the introduction to "Short Cuts: The Screenplay," by Altman and Frank Barhydt, Capra Press (1993). The movie was based on the stories of her late husband, Raymond Carver, internationally acknowledged master of the short story. Gallagher also contributed to the documentary "Luck, Trust and Ketchup," about the making of the film.

Gallagher co-authored two screenplays with Raymond Carver and wrote the introduction to "A New Path to the Waterfall," Raymond Carver's last book of poems, and the introduction to "No Heroics, Please," Volume I of the uncollected works of Raymond Carver.

Her most recent books are her short story collection, "At the Owl Woman Saloon," from Scribner, 1997, and her poems in "My Black Horse: New and Selected Poems" (1995) and "Portable Kisses" (1996), published by Bloodaxe Books in Great Britain. A new story, "You're Not a Dog," is forthcoming in "DoubleTake."

Gallagher's book of poetry "Moon Crossing Bridge," Graywolf Press (1992) was placed on the American Library Association's (ALA) 1993 Most Notable Book List and won a Washington State Governor's Award in 1993. Her first book of poems, "Instructions to the Double," was reissued as a Classic Edition by Carnegie Mellon University Press (1994). Gallagher's book of short stories, "The Lover of Horses," reissued by Graywolf Press (1992), is listed in "500 Great Books By Women: A Reader's Guide." Her essays are collected in "A Concert of Tenses," University of Michigan Press (1986). Other books of poetry still available are "Amplitude: New and Selected Poems," (1987) and "Under Stars" (1978), both published by Graywolf.

Honors that Gallagher has received include a Lyndhurst Prize in 1993 and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Whitman College in May, 1998.

She served as Poet-in-Residence at Bucknell University and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and was the Cockefair Chair Writer-in-Residence at University of Missouri at Kansas City. During the academic year 1996-97, Gallagher held a chair at Whitman College as the Edward F. Arnold Visiting Professor of English. She has often taught poetry for Seattle Resource Institute aboard a ship as it sails among the San Juan Islands. She is the first poet ever invited to speak at the ALA Conference.

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