Marianne Murphy Zarzana
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Happy Birthday, Ann Patchett and Sister Dolores Hodapp

12/2/2010

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Today is the birthday of Ann Patchett. I know this because I receive The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor every day by email, and it lists writers' birthdays. Last summer I read Patchett's beautiful fourth novel Bel Canto, inspired by the hostage crises in Peru. I had heard her interviewed on public radio when the novel first came out in 2001, and I immediately added it to the top of "My List of Books to Read Before I Die." When a friend mailed me a copy last spring, I knew it was finally time. One of my favorite review quotes: "A provocative and enchanting look at the power art has to suspend real life and to create a better world, one in which the differences between people can be erased and the barriers to our best selves can be hurdled." -Detroit Free Press

I'll be giving Bel Canto as a gift this Christmas, and I plan to read more of Patchett's writing in the New Year.

Today is also the birthday of my dear friend Sister Dolores Hodapp, a School Sister of Notre Dame, who loves good poetry and writing as much as I do. Sister Dolores supported me mightily when I returned to college mid-life to earn an MFA in Creative Writing at Minnesota State University, Mankato. All writers need the support of earth angels. Sister Dolores is one of mine.
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    I love to play with words. To capture moments on the page. To explore the physical and spiritual geography of what I call "fly-over country." I write from imagination, observation and my own experience of wandering in fly-over country--the literal, physical spaces of my life on the Minnesota prairie and the inner territory of the soul. 

    I teach writing at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. I enjoy cooking and traveling with my husband Jim, reading, practicing yoga, playing tennis, biking, hiking and gardening.

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