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Peggy Shumaker is
one of our own.

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Although she makes
her home in Alaska

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and writes out of that
vast subarctic wilderness,

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she was raised in this terrain,
of Arroyos, Creosote, and Dust

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Devils.

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She graduated from our
university's creative writing

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MFA program.

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And through her
generosity, she helped

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us create this space and a
program that connects students

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with the work of
the Poetry Center.

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We take pride in her and her
accomplishments as an alumna,

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as the recent writer laureate
for the State of Alaska,

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and is founder of Boreal Books,
which publishes fine literature

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and fine art from Alaska.

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And I just learned
that next year she's

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going to publish a book of
poems by another U of A MFA

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graduate, Susanna Mishler.

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In Peggy's books of poems,
especially Wings Moist

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From the Other World,
Underground Rivers,

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and Gnawed Bones, she locates
us in the splendor and austerity

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of both her Alaskan
and desert habitats,

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interweaving themes
of hope and loss.

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But her latest
book, Toucan Nest,

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travels far from the familiar
to equatorial Costa Rica.

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These poems startle,
as they reveal

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a landscape that forces new
modes of seeing and feeling

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the world.

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I'm eager to hear her
read them tonight.

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Please welcome, Peggy Shumaker.

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[APPLAUSE]

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