WEBVTT

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Good evening.

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My name is Michael Spurgeon, and
I am a Executive Vice President

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of the Albert & Elaine
Borchard Foundation,

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as well as the Director
of the Borchard Foundation

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Center on Literary Arts.

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I'm also a graduate of the
University of Arizona MFA

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program, and a former employee
of the University of Arizona

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Poetry Center.

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So this budding collaboration
between our two organizations

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now in its second year is
particularly close to my heart.

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Tonight is made
even more special

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because I consider Rita
Dove and her husband, Fred,

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to be personal friends.

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The mission of the Borchard
Center on literary arts

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is to create a
community of artists

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from across the
Americas, to foster

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meaningful connections
between people, cultures,

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and the natural world.

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To achieve this
mission, the Center

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awards El Grand Balam, a
three-year $150,000 prize

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going to a mid-career writer.

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The award is currently held by
Yucatec poet Briceida Cuevas

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Cob.

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We also provide multiple
$30,000 fellowships to writers

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from Canada, Mexico,
and the United States

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in various stages of
their careers as a means

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to acknowledge the extraordinary
work they have already

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done to support future
work and to facilitate

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their attendance at our
annual retreat and encuentro

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held each January in San
Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.

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We are profoundly pleased
to include Rita Dove

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in this fellowship of writers.

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To further pursue our mission,
we partner with like minded

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organizations such as 916 Ink,
a Sacramento nonprofit that

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empowers youth by turning
them into published writers,

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Sna Jtz'ibajom, an organization
dedicated to preserving

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and promoting Indigenous
languages, literacy,

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and cultures in the
highlands of Chiapas, Mexico,

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and the University of
Arizona Poetry Center,

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a world-renowned institution
that surely needs no

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introduction to all of you.

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In partnership with
the Poetry Center,

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the Center on Literary
Arts will sponsor a reading

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by one of the writers
from our fellowship

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list in the annual Poetry
Center Reading Series.

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Last year in the
inaugural event,

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the writer was an old friend of
the Poetry Center, Luis Alberto

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Urrea.

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And this year the Borchard
Center on Literary Arts

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is thrilled to help
host another old friend

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of the Poetry Center, poet and
national treasure, Rita Dove.

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Yeah, please.

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[APPLAUSE]

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While there is
only one Rita Dove,

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it is our sincere hope
that in the years to come,

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this partnership will bring
many other writers of vision,

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humanity, and gravitas to this
acclaimed series and the people

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of Tucson.

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I thank you and I hope
you enjoy tonight's event.

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