WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.710 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.710 --> 00:00:04.560 align:middle line:84%
Yona Harvey is a
literary artist residing

00:00:04.560 --> 00:00:06.570 align:middle line:84%
in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where

00:00:06.570 --> 00:00:08.670 align:middle line:84%
she is an Assistant
Professor of English

00:00:08.670 --> 00:00:11.610 align:middle line:90%
at the University of Pittsburgh.

00:00:11.610 --> 00:00:16.079 align:middle line:84%
I love the identifier Literary
Artist in Yona's biography,

00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:19.590 align:middle line:84%
emphasizing as it does the
aesthetic kinship that writers

00:00:19.590 --> 00:00:22.110 align:middle line:90%
share with other makers of art.

00:00:22.110 --> 00:00:24.750 align:middle line:84%
And our proud yet
often unheralded

00:00:24.750 --> 00:00:29.640 align:middle line:84%
standing as artists facing the
social, political, and economic

00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.000 align:middle line:84%
challenges that
all artists face.

00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.570 align:middle line:84%
The identifier Literary Artist
is also perfect for Yona's work

00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:39.240 align:middle line:84%
because of how she
creates, using techniques

00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:43.080 align:middle line:84%
such as collage and sampling
that intersect with visual art

00:00:43.080 --> 00:00:44.430 align:middle line:90%
and music.

00:00:44.430 --> 00:00:47.100 align:middle line:84%
When you hear her acoustic
and rhythmic drive,

00:00:47.100 --> 00:00:50.370 align:middle line:84%
you won't be surprised
to learn that her muse is

00:00:50.370 --> 00:00:52.140 align:middle line:84%
the composer and
pianist Mary Lou

00:00:52.140 --> 00:00:54.810 align:middle line:90%
Williams, also from Pittsburgh.

00:00:54.810 --> 00:00:57.960 align:middle line:84%
Lastly, Literary
Artist make sense

00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:00.420 align:middle line:84%
because Yona's first
book of poetry,

00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:04.560 align:middle line:84%
Hemming the Water, published
by Four Way Books in 2013,

00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:08.610 align:middle line:84%
and the recipient of the 2014
Kate Tufts Discovery Award,

00:01:08.610 --> 00:01:10.830 align:middle line:90%
is virtuosic.

00:01:10.830 --> 00:01:13.500 align:middle line:84%
Hemming the Water flows
through many forms,

00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:17.970 align:middle line:84%
each striking in its sonic and
expressive power, all of which

00:01:17.970 --> 00:01:21.570 align:middle line:84%
Yona works expertly
into a larger pattern.

00:01:21.570 --> 00:01:25.920 align:middle line:84%
For me, that pattern is the
steady rainfall of compassion;

00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.040 align:middle line:84%
compassion for the
wounds that people carry,

00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.740 align:middle line:84%
the wounds of the
Earth, and the pains

00:01:31.740 --> 00:01:35.970 align:middle line:84%
of parenting and being
parented on this Earth.

00:01:35.970 --> 00:01:38.940 align:middle line:84%
Hemming the Water moves
us from fear to love;

00:01:38.940 --> 00:01:41.220 align:middle line:84%
from the question,
there is so much

00:01:41.220 --> 00:01:44.130 align:middle line:90%
to fear how will we fear it all?

00:01:44.130 --> 00:01:48.960 align:middle line:84%
To the reassurance, is
to love, to be born,

00:01:48.960 --> 00:01:53.100 align:middle line:84%
in the name of to die, in
the name of to be blessed,

00:01:53.100 --> 00:01:56.940 align:middle line:84%
in the name of, the
name of naming, love.

00:01:56.940 --> 00:01:58.680 align:middle line:90%
Let's all welcome Yona Harvey.

00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:00.530 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]