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-4- [typewritten:] want to encourage any competitors. Miriam Allen de Ford got him off her neck by telling him that she preferred to give what information she had to me. And Jimmie McGraw left word with his secretary to tell handwritten: Pinkpower? that he had just been awarded a grant to write on the Project. He never called again. He did get to Ruth Crawford, an old friend of mine and scared her so much with his questions about communism that she wouldn't see me when she was in New York a while ago. That's really running scared. I'll be going to Chicago around the middle of November to talk with some of those ex-Project fellows you once knew. The publicity woman at Morrow is trying to arrange a date for a tv interview with the man who does the NET program, Comle (?), who reviews for the Tribune. I also hope I can get together with Stud Terkel; maybe we can interview each other. I too have been wondering why I don't hear from Caroline Kizer. An informant tells me her funds have been slashed badly, but I notice they keep giving away money. When I lunched with her a year or so ago, she seized upon your name when I mentioned it and said in effect there's a guy who should get an award. I agreed, and sent her your address. Let's hope for a decent sequel to all this. I have written more Life Sentences; in fact, I have enough for another book, but I'll be damned if I have anything else published by Abelard-Schuman, the publishers of the first collection. They are aggressively inept and indifferent. Mentioning them reminds me of a peculiar development: an invitation to be one of the three judges for the 1968 National Book Award (fiction division) was sent to me care of Abelard-Schuman, the publisher I've disowned. Why I was selected and why they didn't know how to reach me except through Abelard-Schuman is a mystery that puzzles me when I have nothing else to puzzle me. Anyway, I thought it was a good idea to accept the invitation. If you've seen any good 1968 novels, let me know, won't you? And if [handwritten:] you can think of any newspaper or mag. good for "Life Sentences," I'd like to have that. I'm happy you liked Passion, and I thank you for promising to send me the cutting. Best regards, Jerre