Welcome.
Can you hear me?
Can everyone hear me?
Welcome.
I'm Kate Bernheimer, and it is my pleasure
to congratulate the University of Arizona MFA
program in creative writing as we
celebrate our 50th anniversary.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
I began my role as the program director just this year,
and I was excited my appointment aligned
with this moment in history because I'm not only
a professor in this program, I am also an alumni of it--
a long time ago.
Since its founding in 1972, the MFA program
has been recognized for its innovative approaches
to the teaching of creative writing,
the study of literature as an art form,
and training for work in the field, and perhaps most of all,
for its generations of authors who
have emerged from our student cohorts, many who have
had very illustrious careers.
Our alumni have brought meaning to the interior lives
of readers through a half century
across more than 1,000 book publications
among other meaningful works in the world.
For a quiet moment, I'd like for us to privately remember
some MFA community members whom we
have lost, some quite recently.
In the moment of silence--
or quiet, I should say-- please do call out
the names of any MFA alumni, faculty, staff, or community
member, past or recent, you wish to have held in this space.
Most recently, we learned of the loss
last month of Kevin McIlvoy and Philip Gerard.
Tony Hoagland.
[INAUDIBLE]
Peter Wild.
Steve Orlen.
John Payne.
Morgan Schuldt.
Bob Ramsey.
Jon Anderson.
It's not easy to follow one's artistic sensibilities
into a life of the mind, to dedicate oneself
to mostly working alone, many hours a day,
with the technology only of language,
such a mercurial tool.
Time in an MFA program in creative writing
tempers that solitude with gatherings in classes,
at readings, at professional trainings,
in classmates' homes, and sometimes at faculty parties,
not as often as we used to.
I recall one gathering at Professor Joy Williams'
mid-century home when a javelina suddenly
appeared in the middle of the very dark and very crowded
living room.
And her husband, who also taught in the program
at the time, Esquire Fiction Editor Rust Hills,
raised his martini to the roomful of disheveled MFA folks
and said, with great confidence and flair,
I'd like to introduce you all to Tucson's newest author.
Somehow, the javelina made it safely back
into its natural habitat.
At some point, every reader tonight and every student
in this program has been Tucson's newest author,
showing up poignant as a javelina, blinkingly alone,
in a strange, crowded room.
As faculty, we have the chance to watch
you emerge in your splendor and return
to your more natural world.
It is a gift.
I learned how to do this tangibly from some
of my own professors, including Elizabeth Evans, one
of our introducers tonight.
Once, she kindly stapled her favorite Grimm fairy tale
to a short story manuscript of mine
before handing it back to me marked
up brilliantly in every sentence with a pencil.
She forever quietly changed the course of my literary life
by affirming that I wasn't alone.
Occasions like this are the chance
to take pride in the MFA program's
small and big moments, all of the accomplishments,
and to raise a glass to our current MFA
students, many of whom are here, our dedicated staff, sponsors,
our wonderful undergraduate creative writing students,
an important part of our community, our alumni,
of course, the Poetry Center, and our university home,
the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Happy 50th, MFA program.
You'll now be introduced to our distinguished alumni authors
who are scattered somewhere about.
I see all three of you now--
OK, good, you're here--
your stunning trio of voices.
And I'm so honored to be introducing this event.
Our readers will be introduced by Elizabeth Evans, whom I just
mentioned, professor emerita, and she will
be introducing Cara Blue Adams.
Professor Ander Monson will be introducing Aisha Sabatini
Sloan, and Bojan--
there you are over there--
Bojan Louis, a professor as well,
will be introducing Alberto Ríos.
Enjoy the evening, and thank you for coming.
[APPLAUSE]