Tonight's celebration of multilingual poetry
responds to one of the central tenets of the Poetry Center's
mission--
to sustain, enrich, and advance a diverse literary culture.
Over the years, we presented numerous international writers,
many bilingual readings in many languages.
And most significantly, in 2007, we
partnered with the American Indian Language Development
Institute and Ofelia Zepeda to offer Native Voices--
Indigenous Language and Poetry Symposium,
in which writers from across the US
came here to Tucson to share their work,
lead classes, and engage in a conversation with one another.
In just a moment, I'm going to ask Renee Angle--
who, along with Wendy Burk from the Poetry Center,
organized tonight's reading and translation
project-- to come here and talk to you about this event.
But before I do, I want to just mention briefly
that we continue to celebrate the poetry of our border region
throughout this month of September.
In a few weeks, we're going to premiere
our new anthology, A Decade of Young Corridistas,
featuring 11 years of prize-winning poems
from our bilingual corrido contest for high school
students.
And on Saturday, October 2, we're
going to present a benefit to support that program.
On October 2nd, here in the Odeum,
you're going to hear great music by local groups such as Los
Changos Feos, Grupo iMas, and Mariachi Tapatio.
So please, please visit our table in the back.
Turn around.
See the sign.
It's beautiful.
It's huge.
[LAUGHTER]
They'll be happy to talk to you about this benefit,
sell you a ticket. $15 is all we're
asking for an adult ticket.
You'll have a great time, so.
This event is made possible by the Friends of the Poetry
Center.
Not everyone knows that programs of the Center like these
are entirely supported by grants and by the Friends
of the Poetry Center.
So please do consider supporting our benefits this fall
and becoming a Friend of the Poetry Center.