WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.060 align:middle line:84% My name is Tyler Meier, I'm the executive director here 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:04.410 align:middle line:90% at the Poetry Center. 00:00:04.410 --> 00:00:06.750 align:middle line:84% And this night's event is the first reading 00:00:06.750 --> 00:00:10.410 align:middle line:84% we've done since the Poetry Center was recognized as a 2014 00:00:10.410 --> 00:00:13.500 align:middle line:84% recipient and the governor's Arts award in the community 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.461 align:middle line:90% category for this year. 00:00:15.461 --> 00:00:16.844 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:16.844 --> 00:00:18.058 align:middle line:90% 00:00:18.058 --> 00:00:19.850 align:middle line:84% We're really thrilled with this recognition 00:00:19.850 --> 00:00:23.840 align:middle line:84% and truly it's an award that honors everybody that's here. 00:00:23.840 --> 00:00:25.430 align:middle line:84% The community that participates, that 00:00:25.430 --> 00:00:27.680 align:middle line:84% attends readings and classes and workshops, 00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:30.260 align:middle line:84% that comes to the shop talks and the book clubs, 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:33.590 align:middle line:84% that shows up on family days to read the New April poetry 00:00:33.590 --> 00:00:36.140 align:middle line:84% titles that are just out and purchase in the library. 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:39.470 align:middle line:84% From Graywolf, from Copper Canyon, or from Ugly Duckling, 00:00:39.470 --> 00:00:42.140 align:middle line:84% or from Tavern Books, or from Cleveland State University 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:42.710 align:middle line:90% Press. 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:44.030 align:middle line:84% All of these presses, they're the people 00:00:44.030 --> 00:00:45.410 align:middle line:90% who come and read these books. 00:00:45.410 --> 00:00:47.600 align:middle line:84% They come and read the new issue of Fence Magazine, 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:50.750 align:middle line:84% or Poetry Magazine, or the Sonora Review. 00:00:50.750 --> 00:00:53.750 align:middle line:84% The community that responds to our appeals for support 00:00:53.750 --> 00:00:56.420 align:middle line:84% that volunteers, that pays attention 00:00:56.420 --> 00:00:59.210 align:middle line:84% to this art that is such a peculiar way of seeing 00:00:59.210 --> 00:01:02.210 align:middle line:84% and knowing, this art that is a community that 00:01:02.210 --> 00:01:03.690 align:middle line:90% is a call to action. 00:01:03.690 --> 00:01:06.320 align:middle line:84% It's a way of making some type of belief 00:01:06.320 --> 00:01:08.840 align:middle line:84% out of the materials of our lives. 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:11.210 align:middle line:84% This art that is a house, so to all of you 00:01:11.210 --> 00:01:14.000 align:middle line:84% and in recognition of this world and of this award, 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.200 align:middle line:90% welcome to this house. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:16.325 align:middle line:90% This house, your house. 00:01:16.325 --> 00:01:19.517 align:middle line:90% 00:01:19.517 --> 00:01:22.100 align:middle line:84% The Poetry Center in the end is the thing that we get to share 00:01:22.100 --> 00:01:23.975 align:middle line:84% and I'm just really grateful to have a chance 00:01:23.975 --> 00:01:25.230 align:middle line:90% to share it with all of you. 00:01:25.230 --> 00:01:26.540 align:middle line:90% So thank you so much. 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:28.640 align:middle line:84% We're excited about that award, but really it's 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:31.700 align:middle line:84% a testament to all the things that we do together. 00:01:31.700 --> 00:01:33.620 align:middle line:84% Tonight is also another very special 00:01:33.620 --> 00:01:35.930 align:middle line:84% first that I'm excited to announce. 00:01:35.930 --> 00:01:38.540 align:middle line:84% Tonight, we launched the inaugural reading 00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:42.710 align:middle line:84% and The Hannelore Quander-Rattee Works-in-Translation series. 00:01:42.710 --> 00:01:44.930 align:middle line:84% This is a new annual event that was 00:01:44.930 --> 00:01:49.460 align:middle line:84% created in memory of Hannelore, by her husband Michael Rattee. 00:01:49.460 --> 00:01:53.000 align:middle line:84% Each year, this event will feature translators of poetry, 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.460 align:middle line:84% international poets, and writers and scholars 00:01:55.460 --> 00:01:58.820 align:middle line:84% working within the boundless possibilities of translation. 00:01:58.820 --> 00:02:02.930 align:middle line:84% We are so thrilled to celebrate Hannelore's life 00:02:02.930 --> 00:02:05.030 align:middle line:84% and remember her in this way and Michael 00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:07.050 align:middle line:90% has helped make it possible. 00:02:07.050 --> 00:02:09.620 align:middle line:84% Hannelore and Michael are fixtures of the poetry scene 00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:11.450 align:middle line:90% in Tucson and Southern Arizona. 00:02:11.450 --> 00:02:14.180 align:middle line:84% They moved here from New England in 1978 00:02:14.180 --> 00:02:16.670 align:middle line:84% when Arizona was just becoming a state. 00:02:16.670 --> 00:02:19.160 align:middle line:84% And for the next 30 plus years, they 00:02:19.160 --> 00:02:22.040 align:middle line:84% took part in all aspects of what was happening here 00:02:22.040 --> 00:02:23.480 align:middle line:90% with the written word. 00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:26.000 align:middle line:84% Hannelore translated, she loved translating. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.700 align:middle line:84% Gunter Eich and Heinrich Boll were favorites. 00:02:28.700 --> 00:02:30.110 align:middle line:84% She worked with Michael as editor 00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:33.270 align:middle line:84% of the Prickly Pear Tucson of Poetry Quarterly publication. 00:02:33.270 --> 00:02:35.720 align:middle line:84% She helped direct the mosaic reading series. 00:02:35.720 --> 00:02:37.880 align:middle line:84% She served on the Tucson Poetry Festival committee 00:02:37.880 --> 00:02:39.620 align:middle line:84% for many years, a festival that just 00:02:39.620 --> 00:02:41.942 align:middle line:84% came roaring back this last weekend at Hotel Congress. 00:02:41.942 --> 00:02:43.650 align:middle line:84% I hope many of you were there to see that 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:45.862 align:middle line:84% and it's sort of come back in all its glory. 00:02:45.862 --> 00:02:47.570 align:middle line:84% Her poems and translations were published 00:02:47.570 --> 00:02:48.980 align:middle line:90% in numerous publications. 00:02:48.980 --> 00:02:51.230 align:middle line:84% Most of all, however, when you go 00:02:51.230 --> 00:02:53.120 align:middle line:84% through the archives at the Poetry Center 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:54.650 align:middle line:84% and you look at all the old photos-- 00:02:54.650 --> 00:02:57.260 align:middle line:84% and we've been really good at taking photos here in Tucson 00:02:57.260 --> 00:02:58.820 align:middle line:90% of the poets who visit-- 00:02:58.820 --> 00:03:02.240 align:middle line:84% you'll recognize two faces that show up over and over again 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.700 align:middle line:84% in all of these photos and years and years and years. 00:03:05.700 --> 00:03:07.760 align:middle line:84% And it's Michael's face and Hannelore's face. 00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:10.730 align:middle line:84% And it's exciting for that reason alone, for all 00:03:10.730 --> 00:03:13.040 align:middle line:84% of their participation in this place, 00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:15.092 align:middle line:84% to inaugurate this reading tonight in her memory 00:03:15.092 --> 00:03:17.300 align:middle line:84% and in her spirit and so I'm glad to do that tonight. 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:19.758 align:middle line:84% We're glad to do that tonight with Geoffrey Brock visiting. 00:03:19.758 --> 00:03:22.643 align:middle line:84% Thank you so much, Michael, for helping us do this. 00:03:22.643 --> 00:03:24.575 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:24.575 --> 00:03:27.960 align:middle line:90% 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:29.130 align:middle line:90% Two other quick thank yous. 00:03:29.130 --> 00:03:30.630 align:middle line:84% The Department of French and Italian 00:03:30.630 --> 00:03:32.970 align:middle line:84% has added some additional support for tonight's reading 00:03:32.970 --> 00:03:37.650 align:middle line:84% and the UA Foundation has given the Poetry Center 00:03:37.650 --> 00:03:40.560 align:middle line:84% a community connections grant that's help support the reading 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:41.852 align:middle line:90% series through the entire year. 00:03:41.852 --> 00:03:44.102 align:middle line:84% So we're grateful for both of those sources of support 00:03:44.102 --> 00:03:44.790 align:middle line:90% as well. 00:03:44.790 --> 00:03:46.590 align:middle line:84% Books are available this evening. 00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:48.990 align:middle line:84% There's no reason not to splurge on books, 00:03:48.990 --> 00:03:50.315 align:middle line:90% go crazy after the reading. 00:03:50.315 --> 00:03:52.440 align:middle line:84% They're all up here and I'm sure that Geoffrey will 00:03:52.440 --> 00:03:54.210 align:middle line:90% be glad to sign them for you. 00:03:54.210 --> 00:03:56.940 align:middle line:84% So please, avail yourself of those. 00:03:56.940 --> 00:03:59.970 align:middle line:84% It's my pleasure now to welcome my friend, Tony Luebbermann, 00:03:59.970 --> 00:04:02.010 align:middle line:84% who will introduce Geoffrey Brock. 00:04:02.010 --> 00:04:04.440 align:middle line:84% Tony is a heartbeat of the Poetry Center. 00:04:04.440 --> 00:04:06.610 align:middle line:84% He's a long time friend and supporter. 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:09.210 align:middle line:84% He is a docent, he's a front desk volunteer, 00:04:09.210 --> 00:04:12.000 align:middle line:84% the current chair of the Poetry Center Development Committee, 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.670 align:middle line:84% and one of the best tour guides at the Poetry Center 00:04:14.670 --> 00:04:18.089 align:middle line:84% and you should do this experience on a Monday morning. 00:04:18.089 --> 00:04:19.890 align:middle line:84% Come visit and take a tour with Tony, 00:04:19.890 --> 00:04:21.240 align:middle line:90% it's almost life changing! 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:22.380 align:middle line:90% I promise. 00:04:22.380 --> 00:04:23.850 align:middle line:84% He's had almost every title here, 00:04:23.850 --> 00:04:26.100 align:middle line:84% except executive director, which worries 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:30.750 align:middle line:90% me slightly for my own job. 00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:33.240 align:middle line:84% He's previously served on the boards of Chax Press, POG, 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:34.865 align:middle line:84% and the Tucson Poetry Festival and he's 00:04:34.865 --> 00:04:37.710 align:middle line:84% retired from a distinguished career in service and city 00:04:37.710 --> 00:04:39.160 align:middle line:90% management here in Tucson. 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:41.430 align:middle line:84% He holds an MFA in Poetry from the Vermont College 00:04:41.430 --> 00:04:42.150 align:middle line:90% of Fine Arts. 00:04:42.150 --> 00:04:44.840 align:middle line:90% This is Tony Luebbermann.