[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6015-6016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING THE ALASKA QUARTERLY REVIEW

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President. I wish to recognize one of our 
Nation's literary magazines, the Alaska Quarterly Review. This quiet 
giant in the Alaska arts scene has earned numerous accolades and high 
praise. Today I want to specifically recognize the magazine for 
reaching its 30-year anniversary and for its continued literary 
excellence.
  Since the magazine's birth at the Anchorage campus of the University 
of Alaska in 1982, the Alaska Quarterly Review has served as an 
instrument to give voice to Alaska writers and poets as well as also 
publishing excellent material from non-Alaskan authors. In

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other words, while it is firmly rooted in Alaska, it has maintained a 
national perspective, bridging the distance between the literary 
centers across the country and Alaska. This balanced presentation of 
views over the years has earned the Review local, regional, national, 
and even international recognition.
  The founding editor of the Review, Mr. Ronald Spatz, envisioned the 
Review as a way to break through stereotypes and present Alaska to the 
greater literary community as a partner. With the Review under his 
direction for three decades, he has also continued his focus on 
publishing new and emerging writers. After 30 years of hard work at the 
Review, each issue still contains the same labor of love and excitement 
from edition to edition.
  Advances in technology have turned publishing on its head, but the 
Review has remained both a faithful forum for conventional work and an 
outlet for work that challenges accepted forms and modes of expression. 
It has established itself as distinctly Alaskan because it is strongly 
influenced by the place, the people, and the cultural traditions, 
without ever being restricted by its geographical location. The 
magazine's body of work is eclectic.
  Through its stories, oral histories, folk tales, and poems, the 
literary magazine seeks to portray Alaska's rich and diverse Native 
cultures. It pays tribute to the Native language speakers and tradition 
bearers that keep their cultures alive through their stories and 
through their words. Over the years Alaskans have learned that one of 
the best ways to protect the social fabric of Native Alaskans is to 
protect their culture, thus maintaining their pride in their history 
and their heritage. In this vein, Ronald Spatz has published stories in 
Eyak, Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Alutiq, Central Yup'ik, St. Lawrence 
Island Yup'ik, Inupiaq, and Dena'ina. The Review has done much to 
preserve the culture and history of Alaska and her people.
  To help commemorate these achievements and reaching the 30-year 
benchmark, the Review is producing an ambitious photojournalism 
collection in their spring/summer issue. The collection, called 
``Liberty and Justice (For All): A Global Photo Mosaic,'' pays tribute 
to photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who died in 
Libya in 2011. The biannual publication will also feature a special 
section in the fall/winter edition in the form of 60 poems by 60 
different poets.
  Alaska, and America, is far richer because of the Alaska Quarterly 
Review. I commend it and its contributors for its many achievements, as 
well as the University of Alaska board of regents and the leadership of 
the University of Alaska Anchorage for its support of the publication. 
It has taken a tremendous commitment to academic and artistic 
excellence to continue publication these 30 years. Again, 
congratulations to the Alaska Quarterly Review for reaching 30 years of 
continued literary excellence.

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