WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.610 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:01.610 --> 00:00:03.980 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Tyler, so much. 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:08.160 align:middle line:84% Superstar evening for a superstar. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:09.540 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Natasha. 00:00:09.540 --> 00:00:11.160 align:middle line:90% I have to bring this. 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:12.870 align:middle line:90% This is on my bookshelf. 00:00:12.870 --> 00:00:16.129 align:middle line:84% The book that was in that moment. 00:00:16.129 --> 00:00:20.240 align:middle line:84% And to think that I get a chance to say a few words 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:23.720 align:middle line:90% about the translator. 00:00:23.720 --> 00:00:28.100 align:middle line:84% But we're going to close out the distinguished visitor series. 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:33.290 align:middle line:84% It's commencement time, and it's always a time of celebration. 00:00:33.290 --> 00:00:35.030 align:middle line:84% In doing so, I want to acknowledge 00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:37.550 align:middle line:84% that there is some continued good news 00:00:37.550 --> 00:00:40.070 align:middle line:84% for our creative writing program. 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:42.030 align:middle line:84% There are a lot of first books that are coming. 00:00:42.030 --> 00:00:44.970 align:middle line:84% There are some stories that are being accepted and published. 00:00:44.970 --> 00:00:49.050 align:middle line:84% And the theses are being completed as we speak. 00:00:49.050 --> 00:00:51.890 align:middle line:84% But there are some major recognitions 00:00:51.890 --> 00:00:56.030 align:middle line:90% that I would like to mention. 00:00:56.030 --> 00:00:59.900 align:middle line:84% Faculty member Bojan Louis, Bojan, I saw him here, 00:00:59.900 --> 00:01:04.970 align:middle line:84% and MFA alum, Raquel Gutiérrez, Raquel is here as well, 00:01:04.970 --> 00:01:07.880 align:middle line:84% were both named recipients of the United States Artists 00:01:07.880 --> 00:01:09.430 align:middle line:90% Fellowships earlier this spring. 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:11.684 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:01:11.684 --> 00:01:14.450 align:middle line:90% 00:01:14.450 --> 00:01:18.440 align:middle line:84% And just a few weeks ago, MFA alum Aisha Sabatini Sloan, 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:21.210 align:middle line:84% was awarded a Whiting Writers Award. 00:01:21.210 --> 00:01:24.140 align:middle line:84% So there's a number of good things 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:28.730 align:middle line:84% that have been coming out for creative writing. 00:01:28.730 --> 00:01:31.490 align:middle line:84% And I give you that good news because it's been 00:01:31.490 --> 00:01:35.360 align:middle line:90% mostly bad news, to be honest. 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:39.140 align:middle line:84% The distinguished visitor series was very fortunate 00:01:39.140 --> 00:01:42.350 align:middle line:84% this academic year to bookend the semester 00:01:42.350 --> 00:01:45.770 align:middle line:84% with literary offerings because of the collaborations 00:01:45.770 --> 00:01:49.580 align:middle line:84% with the Poetry Center, and notably, the Borchard Center 00:01:49.580 --> 00:01:51.470 align:middle line:90% on Literary Arts. 00:01:51.470 --> 00:01:56.310 align:middle line:84% Our funding was extremely limited this academic year. 00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:59.300 align:middle line:84% But thanks to the Borchard Center and their mission 00:01:59.300 --> 00:02:02.300 align:middle line:84% to, quote, create a community of literary artists 00:02:02.300 --> 00:02:06.690 align:middle line:84% from across the Americas to foster meaningful connections 00:02:06.690 --> 00:02:10.060 align:middle line:84% between people, culture, and the natural world, 00:02:10.060 --> 00:02:14.280 align:middle line:84% we were able to host the writer, Brenda Lozano, last August 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:17.670 align:middle line:90% and tonight, Natasha Wimmer. 00:02:17.670 --> 00:02:21.510 align:middle line:84% Now more than ever, fostering meaningful connections 00:02:21.510 --> 00:02:24.720 align:middle line:84% is crucial to breaking past the cruelty 00:02:24.720 --> 00:02:29.100 align:middle line:84% behind those forces trying to sever those connections. 00:02:29.100 --> 00:02:32.650 align:middle line:84% To find common purpose and human connection, 00:02:32.650 --> 00:02:37.390 align:middle line:84% it is necessary to hear how others render their hard times 00:02:37.390 --> 00:02:41.680 align:middle line:84% or how others use art not as a receptacle for false hope, 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:44.160 align:middle line:90% but action and power. 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:50.200 align:middle line:84% History happens to all of us, is written by all of us worldwide. 00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:52.870 align:middle line:84% But we are limited by our language, 00:02:52.870 --> 00:02:57.300 align:middle line:84% and we count on the translators to help untangle the knots 00:02:57.300 --> 00:02:59.580 align:middle line:90% of our limited knowledge. 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:04.950 align:middle line:84% They straighten us out, speak to a multitude of struggles, 00:03:04.950 --> 00:03:07.800 align:middle line:90% illuminate multiple pasts. 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:13.560 align:middle line:84% They are, I think, our greatest literary practitioners. 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:16.890 align:middle line:84% Wimmer herself says that she is not a writer, 00:03:16.890 --> 00:03:20.310 align:middle line:84% but is careful to illuminate the particular task 00:03:20.310 --> 00:03:22.170 align:middle line:90% of the translator. 00:03:22.170 --> 00:03:26.200 align:middle line:84% She's very much-- she's very much a carrier of wisdom, 00:03:26.200 --> 00:03:30.000 align:middle line:84% as are all translators, blessed with the ability 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.620 align:middle line:84% to speak the intricate cadences of experience we all so 00:03:34.620 --> 00:03:38.010 align:middle line:84% desperately need to hear and learn from. 00:03:38.010 --> 00:03:41.910 align:middle line:84% We welcome Natasha from the East Coast, where she teaches 00:03:41.910 --> 00:03:44.050 align:middle line:90% at both Princeton and Columbia. 00:03:44.050 --> 00:03:46.620 align:middle line:84% She is renowned as a translator of books 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:51.210 align:middle line:84% by Roberto Bolaño, Mario Vargas Llosa, and most recently, Nona 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:54.630 align:middle line:84% Fernandez and Álvaro Enrique, whose novel, 00:03:54.630 --> 00:03:57.930 align:middle line:84% You Dreamed of Empires, is over on that table, translated 00:03:57.930 --> 00:04:02.070 align:middle line:84% by Natasha, was named one of the 10 best books of 2024 00:04:02.070 --> 00:04:03.670 align:middle line:90% by The New York Times. 00:04:03.670 --> 00:04:08.670 align:middle line:84% So I ask you to give a Tucson bienvenida to Natasha Wimmer. 00:04:08.670 --> 00:04:11.420 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]