Hi, everyone.
I'm Diana Delgado.
I'm the literary director of the University of Arizona Poetry
Center.
And I want to welcome everyone to our inaugural episode
of the Institute for Inquiry and Poetics.
The Institute founded at the University of Arizona Poetry
Center is a thought center designed
to create space and time for poets
to respond to pressing questions that
reside at the intersection of social concern and poetry.
Encouraging interdisciplinary modalities
and investigative research, the Institute
will ask poets a series of questions
and digitally archive their responses
on poetry.arizona.edu.
Today, I'm excited to host LeAnne Howe, Jennifer Foerster,
and Joy Harjo as part of this year's theme Beyond
the Obvious.
And we're especially excited to explore
how imaginative language and poetry can help
create a sense of belonging.
We're grateful to the Hurand Connection Fund
for partnering with the Poetry Center
and for supporting this conversation today.
In our program tonight, each poet
will read for approximately 20 minutes sharing work
from the anthology When the Light of the World
was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through,
a Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry,
an anthology that explores this theme in interesting ways.
And then after that reading, we'll be in conversation.
Before we begin, the University of Arizona Poetry Center
must acknowledge that we exist on the traditional homelands
of the Tohono O'odham, who have cared
for these lands for centuries.
And as a guest in these lands, I want
to acknowledge that we are on occupied Tohono O'odham
territory.
Now, I'd like to introduce Bojan Louis, who
will say a few words of introduction
about the anthology and who is a poet, friend,
and assistant professor here in Arizona.
Bojan Louis, Diné, is the author of the poetry collection
Currents, which received a 2018 American Book Award,
and the nonfiction chapbook Troubleshooting Silence
in Arizona.
He is an assistant professor in the creative writing
and American Indian Studies programs
at the University of Arizona.
Bojan, thank you for being here with us.