When Joseph Meigs spins a tale, you can expect it to be sharp-witted, observant, and downright entertaining. After all, Meigs is a latter-day Renaissance man- Shakespeare scholar, cinema aficionado, popular university professor, and an artist himself. So, he knows the territory about which he writes, and he knows its inhabitants' quirks, fears, passions, and jealousies. When I first read Artists' Tales, I was taken with the diversity of those inhabitants' artistry. "The Chili Artist" is unforgettable, to name one. We all know this character, but Joe Meigs knows him even better, enough to make him come alive in a completely human way. From the mythic "Hero and Leander" to the concluding "An Artist's Heaven," this book introduces us to a gathering of "artists" we won't soon forget. Only Meigs, consummate raconteur, could make them come alive with such flair and humanity. -Kathryn Stripling Byer Bayer is the former poet laureate of North Carolina and has published numerous works, including Descent (2012).