barbara kingsolver. of course, but also to golden, the founder of agency. i now head, who some of you, of course, knew when barbara first looking for a literary agent in the 1980s, back when people still looked for and literary reference books. one listing jumped out at her. it read in part, no racist sex, just a just homophobic or pornographic material considered. and barbara said bingo. that's agent for me. frances was not only a fierce advocate for barbara's work, but something of a jewish mother to barbara and me. and that's the thread that connects us. if she could have been here, would have been compelling. barbara kingsolver. contributions to american letters then have been amazingly far more than i could do justice to. but what i would say all is that barbara has been ahead of her time showing us the way. she was reviving the social novel at, a time when ironic detachment and introspection were still very much the literary fashion, starting with her first novel, the bean trees, which among other t

amy tan, barbara kingsolver, stephen king, dave barry, and i just about fell out of my office chair. so i struggle on bass behind everybody. but it's been a ton of fun. we had a legal problem and an injunction against the band, there's a certain creative horror writer in the band and he likes to improvise lyrics. so we would repeatedly sing this one song that it's illegal for me to mention and as you got into -- as he got into the lyrics he would begin to make them more horrific, spleens on the ground and other things, but this got around somehow to the people who licensed this song, and they said you may not mess with our lyrics. and we said, this is stephen king, we can mess with anything. [ laughter ] >> they filed an injunction against us. but we had a secret weapon -- we had dave barry. >> well, okay, i used to do this -- it was the -- what was the name of the company in. >> i don't want to name it. >> i used to get the whole audience to say it, a bodily part that's very bad to say. that was our revenge to them.e but stephen, the lyric, this is not the one we got sued about. we

received a fax back and she said, so you're going to be bass player and here's your band amy tan, barbara kingsolver, stephen king, dave barry and i about fell out of my office chair and i said, hey, what? you know? so. so i struggle on bass behind everybody, but it's been a ton of fun. we have one. you mentioned a legal and we did have actually an against the band, and that's because there's a certain creative writer in the band and he likes to improvise lyrics. so we would repeat sing this one song that it's illegal me to mention and as he got into the as got into the lyrics, he would begin to make much more horrific. there were mentions of spleens on the ground and other things. well, this got around somehow to the people who licensed this song and they you may not mess with our lyrics. and we said is stephen king, we can mess with anything. and they filed injunction against us. but we had a secret weapon. we had dave barry well okay, i used to do this. it was the, the, the was, was the name of the company. i don't want to name. okay. acuff-rose i used to get the whole audience to say instead of