Fiction Mid-Week: Richard McCann

Richard McCann has been a teacher and mentor to me off and on since the mid-1990s (we will draw a discreet veil over the precise year, now, as we creep 2010-ward).

He's an extraordinarily gentle and ethical teacher, using humor and compassion to draw the best and most deeply felt work out of his students.

It is hard to describe with any accuracy what it feels like to be in his presence, but the best I can do is to say that one feels deeply regarded, deeply seen and cherished.

In fact, it was probably one moment like that which caused me to enroll in the MFA program at American University a few years ago. After being out of touch for some years, Richard and I sat facing one another before we started our meeting, ostensibly to discuss where and whether I should attend a master's program. Before anything else happened, he put out his hands and said, "Now. Let me look at you."

Richard McCann looks, really looks, like no one else I know. This excerpt from Mother of Sorrows, just out in paperback, will say more than I can.