Patricia Hampl’s most recent books, The Florist’s Daughter and Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime were on numerous “best” and “year end” lists, including the New York Times “100 Notable Books of the Year."  She first won recognition for A Romantic Education, her memoir about her Czech heritage, awarded a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship. This book and subsequent works have established her as an influential figure in the rise of autobiographical writing. She is also the author of two collections of poetry.  Her other books include Spillville, a meditation on Antonin Dvorak's 1893 summer in Iowa, and Virgin Time, about her Catholic upbringing and an inquiry into contemplative life.  I Could Tell You Stories was a finalist in the National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction in 2000.  Her short fiction, essays, poetry and travel pieces have appeared widely, in such publications as The New Yorker, Paris Review, The American Scholar, Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays.   She is a recipient of fellowships from the NEA (in poetry and in prose), the Guggenheim Foundation, and is a MacArthur Fellow.  She is Regents Professor of English at the University of Minnesota.