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Hi, everyone.

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I'm Diana Marie Delgado,
the literary director

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of the University of
Arizona Poetry Center.

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And I want to welcome
everyone, to another episode

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of the Institute for
Inquiry and Poetics,

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featuring ambassadors from our
Art for Justice Initiative.

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The Institute for
Inquiry and Poetics

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founded at the University
of Arizona Poetry Center

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is a thought center designed to
create space and time for poets

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to respond to pressing
questions that

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reside at the intersection
of social concern and poetry.

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Encouraging
interdisciplinary modalities

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and investigative
research, the Institute

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will ask poets a series
of questions and digitally

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archive their responses on
poetry.arizona.edu in addition

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to YouTube and the
Center's archive Voca.

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Tonight I'm very excited to host
a reading with our very close

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partner Reginald Dwayne Betts.

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Dwayne Betts is a poet and the
director of the Million Book

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Project, an initiative out of
the Yale Law School's Justice

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Collaboratory to radically
transform the access

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to literature in prisons.

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The author of a memoir and
three collections of poetry,

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his latest collection
of poetry, Felon,

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explores the post
incarceration experience

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and lingering consequences
of a criminal record.

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In 2019, Betts won the
National Magazine Award

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in the essays and criticism
category for his New York Times

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Magazine essay that
chronicles his journey

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from prison to becoming
a licensed attorney.

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Dwayne has become an
integral part of Art

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for Justice, which is a three
year project that commissions

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new work from leading
writers in conversation

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with the crisis of mass
incarceration in the United

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States.

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All with the goal of creating
new awareness and empathy

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through presentation
and publication.

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Thank you, Dwayne, for
being here with us tonight.

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It's my pleasure.

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It's my pleasure, always.

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Thank you so much.

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I also want to give
a special thanks

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to TJ Hill, our producer,
the Ford Foundation,

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and the entire team at the
University of Arizona Poetry

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Center.

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Kima Jones who have helped
make this reading possible.

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In our program tonight, we
also have another special guest

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who will be introducing Dwayne.

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And that is both a
colleague of mine

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and local Tucsonian, Joe Watson.

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Joe Watson is a formerly
incarcerated writer

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and media professional who
works as a communications

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director for the Pima County
attorney's office in Tucson,

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Arizona.

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Since his release
from prison in 2017

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after serving more
than 10 years inside,

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Joe has advocated for sentencing
reform and greater access

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to re-entry resources, organized
around prosecutorial reform,

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and leads a free monthly
workshop at the Poetry

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Center called Free Time.

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He enlists community members
to help mentor incarcerated

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writers, and it's a very
successful workshop.

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So thank you, Joe, for
being here with us tonight.

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And thank you for
introducing Dwayne.

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