Since 1995, Rich Levy has been Executive Director of Inprint, Inc., a nonprofit literary arts organization that champions creative writing and reading in Houston. Inprint, Inc. is Houston's only major nonprofit organization dedicated to that "shimmering go-between [Vladimir Nabokov]," the literary arts. Founded in 1983 by a group of community volunteers and writers from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, the mission of Inprint is to champion creative writing and reading in Houston. Its programs and events play a vital role in Houston's rich cultural life.

Also a poet, Rich's poems have appeared in Boulevard, Gulf Coast, High Plains Literary Review, Intro, The Texas Review, and other magazines. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. An avid jazz fan, he and his wife Katie O'Harra, an attorney, have three children, two dogs, and one sleepy cat. Houston Poetry Review caught up with him after his Summer 2003 sojourn in Poland.

1. HPRvw: Rich, Inprint is such a vital part of the Houston creative writing scene, can you give us an overview of Inprint's poetry-related activities?

Yes, I'd be happy to. First, we have the Inprint Brown Reading Series, now in its 23rd year and presented in association with the UH Creative Writing Program and the Alley Theatre, brings the world's leading writers to Houston at little or no cost to the public. The 2003-2004 series features five Pulitzer Prize winners---Jhumpa Lahiri, Jane Smiley, Galway Kinnell, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Richard Russo---plus Charles Baxter, Sharon Olds, Kevin Young, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Martin Espada, Ann Patchett, and Julia Glass.

Second, we have Inprint Writers Workshops, considered Houston's "Best Place for Aspiring Writers" [Houston Press Best of 2002] and led by accomplished local authors in fiction, poetry, personal essay, and the novel, help aspiring writers to hone their skills and prepare work for publication. This Fall 2003, Mike Lieberman will be leading the poetry workshop, which begins September 4 and runs for about 10 Thursday nights in a row.

And, of course, we have Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature & Fine Arts, underwritten in part by Inprint and distributed coast-to-coast, publishes the work of nationally established and emerging writers and Houston artists.

In addition to its community literary activities, Inprint provides major funding to the UH Creative Writing Program, which was ranked #2 by U.S. News & World Report in its assessment of 200 of the nation's creative writing programs. Since the Program's founding in 1979, Creative Writing Program students and alumni have published more than 100 books, and faculty writers have received, among other honors, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowships. In 2003, proceeds from The Poets & Writers Ball, Inprint's annual gala, and other sources of support enabled Inprint to provide fellowships for every incoming student in this renowned program.

For more information, anyone may visit the Inprint web site at
www.inprint-inc.org or call 713-521-2026.

2. HPRvw: Rich, what's it like being the Executive Director of Inprint?

Nice, most of the time. Since I am a writer myself, I (like many of us glorious fools in the literary arts biz) believe I am doing the Lord's work.

3. HPRvw: What's the most fun part of your job?

The most fun is to see a program grow from an abstract idea to a successful program that plays a meaningful role in Houston's cultural life, such as with the senior memoir workshops, the Teachers-as-Writers Workshops, and The Business of Writing seminar we sponsor. In the case of Inprint's Writing Workshops and The Inprint Brown Reading Series, we enhanced an existing program, which is also a good feeling. It is genuinely fun to do this literature "thang" (as James Brown might say) and have it reach larger and larger numbers of people.

4. HPRvw: Who is teaching Inprint's poetry workshops in 2003-2004?

Michael Lieberman, Dan Rifenburgh-and I'm not sure of the others yet. Michael and Dan are both great. Michael teaches this Fall 2003, Dan will teach either a teachers' or a "regular" poetry workshop in the Spring 2004. Dan's first book just came out to some acclaim; it is titled Advent, and it won a TIL prize. Michael's fourth book, Remnant, came out last year [in the fall of 2002]. It is a powerful Holocaust-inspired collection.

5. HPRvw: How vibrant is poetry in Houston?

Very vibrant, thanks to Brazos Bookstore, First Fridays, Houston Poetry Fest, Nuestra Palabra, Voices Breaking Boundaries, Gulf Coast, Tongue Magazine, and-of course, Inprint. There are many other poetry readings that occur on a regular basis at Helios, in Galveston, up in Montgomery County, etc., much more than I can or want to keep track of. What a blessing. Poetry is alive and very well in Houston, and there is a growing interest and involvement in it. Thanks to everyone, including Houston Poetry Review, who puts shoulder to the wheel.

6. HPRvw: In your opinion, what are the most exciting things currently happening in the Houston poetry scene?

I'm biased-I think between the Inprint Brown Reading Series and Brazos Bookstore, you get the best of both world-renowned poets and emerging, first-book poets. But there's so much more---many exciting poetry moments happening every day.

7. HPRvw: Although we are sure you have many, can you give us a sampling of your favorite Houston poets?

I can't do it. . .there are too many. I am sorry we lost Edward Hirsch, however, who's now president of the Guggenheim Foundation in New York. He was such a generous spirit.

8. HPRvw: And how about your favorite "non-Houston" poets?

I know it's not fashionable to say so, but I'm still a big Billy Collins fan. He is fun on paper, a great reader (amazing comic timing), his essays are entertaining, and he has done more with the Poet Laureate's office than any poet in recent memory. My other favorites include Frank O'Hara, William Carlos Williams, Carlos Drummond de Andrade (from Brazil), and Czeslaw Milosz (from Poland)-I think the first three are deceased. There are many more poets whose work I love and respect, too many to name.

9. HPRvw: What do you think about modern American "prose" poetry versus "classic" rhyming poetry? It is a bit of an issue now, is it not?

It is a non-issue, as far as I'm concerned. There's room for everything, including forms and approaches we haven't dreamed of yet. Of course, not every new poem is effective. As Duke Ellington said, there's no such thing as a "best" style of music---there's just good music and bad music.

10. HPRvw: Anything else you'd like to tell us?

Poetry is important. As William Carlos Williams wrote, It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.