Philip Schultz’s most prominent success is a book of poems called “Failure.” For that effort, he won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. He has since written a memoir called “My Dyslexia” from which he will read  October 20 at the Poetry Center.

Full disclosure: Schultz is technically my boss, one of them, anyway. He is the founder of The Writers Studio, a creative writing school for which I teach fiction and poetry workshops. But I haven’t yet met him yet, and I’m very excited to.

Among the reasons I’m so thrilled:

• He has devised a method for teaching creative writing that I deeply respect. It addresses not only the technical elements of good writing, but the emotional process — how to connect to emotion and how to tamp down anxiety. Interestingly, the writing method came out of the method he used to teach himself to read.

• Schultz studies things carefully and learns lessons some of us might pass over. For instance, in this video of a recent interview he did at the Churchill School, he makes the link between dyslexia, the necessary compassion for oneself and the corollary compassion for others.

• He writes about 100 drafts of every poem. He expects to. I admire and am inspired by his desire and persistence.

If you want to hear Schultz in his own words — I think it’s really worth it — you can listen to Schultz read his poem “Failure” here. You can also read an excerpt of “My Dyslexia” and listen to an interview with him on NPR here.

The local iteration of the massively popular TED talks is now selling tickets for its November 10 event. It looks like it will be a busy and interest-packed night, with talks stretching from 6:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. (Yes, there is music and intermission in there.) The event will be held at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St.

This is how the organizers describe the event:

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxTucson, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxTucson event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection about sustainability. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized and intended to benefit our community.

I’m especially interested to hear from Silver Thread Trio, Ross Evans, Robin Hoover and Robert Ojeda. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $10 for students.

If you’re curious and want to know more, you check out the schedule posted by the TEDxTucson 2011 online ticket vendor or watch videos from other TED events.

What do you think? Do you plan to go?