[cid:4ED061C8-21A0-48ED-AFEA-84038D94D6D6] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 11, 2013 Contact: Margaret Thorndill Director of Public Events, mthorndill@pugetsound.edu, ph. 253.879.3555 Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here—Two Public Lectures Artist and poet Carletta Carrington Wilson talks about “books of the bound” Thursday, Oct. 10 Exhibit co-curator Beau Beausoleil speaks Wednesday, Oct. 16 TACOMA, Wash. – On March 5, 2007, in the middle of the Iraq War, a car bomb devastated the literary and intellectual heart of Baghdad, killing 30 people and wounding more than 100. San Francisco poet and artist Beau Beausoleil and British scholar Sarah Bodman responded to the devastation by asking artists and poets from around the world to create artists’ books as a show of solidarity with those slain and injured. Collins Memorial Library at University of Puget Sound is hosting more than 50 works from the national traveling exhibit that resulted, Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, through Thursday, October 31. In addition there are two free public lectures: Thursday, October 10, 4–5 p.m. Carletta Carrington Wilson on her work books of the bound Collins Memorial Library, McCormick Room. Free. Carletta Carrington Wilson is a Seattle artist and poet whose fusion of literary and visual work expresses themes of social justice. Her most recent series of mixed-media collages uses symbols of language, silence, bodies, and bondage to honor the unheard voices of the enslaved. Wednesday, Oct. 16, 7–8 p.m. Beau Beausoleil on his book Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here: Poets and Writers Respond to the Bombing of Baghdad’s ‘Street of the Booksellers’ Collins Memorial Library, McCormick Room. Free. Beau Beausoleil is the founder of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition and co-curator of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here book exhibit. He recently published the anthology of writings Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here: Poets and Writers Respond to the Bombing of Baghdad’s “Street of the Booksellers<http://www.amazon.com/Al-Mutanabbi-Street-Starts-Here-Booksellers/dp/1604865903>.” Exploring the question “Where does al-Mutanabbi Street start?” the book looks at both communities and nations, seeking to show the commonality between a small street in Baghdad and major cultural centers. Chapters examine al-Mutanabbi Street as a place that has long offered sanctuary to diverse Iraqi voices, and a place where the roots of democracy took hold hundreds of years ago. Collins was one of more than 800 libraries in the United States selected to participate in this initiative. It provides the public with access to books and DVDs representing fresh perspectives on the people, places, histories, beliefs, and practices of Muslims in the United States and around the world. The library is also highlighting resources and materials received through the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf<http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2013-01-09> grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities<http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2013-01-09>. The exhibit and lectures are sponsored by the Catharine Gould Chism Fund for the Humanities and the Arts. Puget Sound Book Artists<http://blogs.pugetsound.edu/pugetsoundbookartists/> also assisted with the exhibit and co-sponsored the talk by Beau Beausoleil. For directions and a map of the campus: www.pugetsound.edu/directions<http://www.pugetsound.edu/directions.xml> For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu<mailto:accessibility@pugetsound.edu> or 253.879.3236 Read a story in The Economist about the traveling exhibit: http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/12/al-mutanabbi-street-starts-here Press photos of works from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here exhibit can be downloaded from: www.pugetsound.edu/pressphotos<http://www.pugetsound.edu/pressphotos> Tweet this: Bombs cannot destroy ideas. Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here shows us why. @univpugetsound Aug. 19–Oct. 31. http://bit.ly/1703ynO Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/univpugetsound<http://www.twitter.com/univpugetsound> -0- Visit our “Newsroom” page featuring a searchable index of Puget Sound sources on a wide variety of topics at http://www.pugetsound.edu/about/offices--services/office-of-communications/newsroom/ University of Puget Sound is a 2,600-student, national undergraduate liberal arts college in Tacoma, Wash., drawing students from 44 states and 16 countries. Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Fulbright scholars, notables in the arts and culture, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A low student-faculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty members who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional and interdisciplinary areas of study. Puget Sound is the only national, independent undergraduate liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society.