Francine Prose

Francine Prose as a writer is an exact one.  She makes every word count and tells us to do he same.  As a speaker she is sure of her words and herself, not giving a speech, more having a conversation.  Her humor holds a key to her being: dry, well placed comments that could be mistaken for passing thoughts if not for her perfect sense of timing.
She is no egoist, assuming her writing reels intelligence in on wormy fishhooks.  She is a person glad to share her words and not retract into soft humility.  She draws her audience in with her vaguely familiar voice, the quintessential comforting mother softly poking fun of you for thinking you were better then all the other kids.   On this past Tuesday evening, Prose stood before us, and it seemed strange that she was behind a podium, as though being presented to us, rather then part of the group, telling her stories as they were meant to be told, on the same level.  Her short story “Hanzel and Gretel” gave us a distinct impression of who we were really dealing with, a slow unclaimed poet, drawing out each word into a sentence that says exactly what it wants and means exactly what it said. Her telling ended with conviction and answering started with good humor.  Prose explained to us how the story came to be, how she as a writer works and when she first thought of herself as a writer.
Francine Prose has good reason to be a writer: she isn’t good at anything else.  “I can’t even drive.” she muttered in afterthought when asked why she became a writer.  Beyond that, Prose has a distinct way of making words move that leave you fulfilled, in any capacity that you read them.  Her words are purposeful and true, and she uses them so that others may have a good story to read.