Writing in The Saturday Review, critic Alastair Reid has said that Richard Shelton's work "...stands out in its stark, understated ironies. Shelton is a poet of the Southwest and his language is as dry and bony as his desert landscape.. .the sharp economy of his line, his beautiful equilibrium of manner and matter, already make him an important poet."

Shelton's first book, The Tattooed Desert, won the International Poetry Forum's United States Award in 1970 and his fourth collection, The Bus to Veracruz, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In all, Shelton has published twelve books or chapbooks of poetry, and his poetry and prose have appeared in more than 100 magazines and journals.

Shelton, who will read with Rita Dove on Thursday afternoon, appears courtesy of the Associated Writing Programs. [extracted from 1985 brochure]

8th Annual Literary Festival

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