Richard Terrill’s latest book is Essentially: Essays. His previous books include What Falls Away Is Always: Poems & Conversations; Coming Late to Rachmaninoff, winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry; and two memoirs, Fakebook: Improvisations on a Journey Back to Jazz and Saturday Night in Baoding: A China Memoir, winner of the AWP Award for Nonfiction. He has held fellowships from the NEA, Wisconsin and Minnesota State Arts Boards, Jerome Foundation, MacDowell Colony, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, as well as three Fulbrights. His work has appeared in Fourth Genre, Georgia Review, North American Review, River Teeth, and New Letters. He was named a Distinguished Scholar at MSU, Mankato, and now works as a jazz saxophonist.