PRESS RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
Contact: Christina Madsen (501) 852-2659, christinam@uca.edu
Chris Hickey (501) 569-8485, chrishickey@kuar.org
September 3, 2015
CATCH “RETURN OF THE GAR” ON KUAR
UCA Department of Writing
CONWAY ― Tune in to 89.1 FM on Sept. 17 at 8:30 p.m. for KUAR’s rebroadcast of Arts & Letters, featuring Mark Spitzer, fish-writer and University of Central Arkansas writing professor.
This 29-minute episode produced for NPR member station KUAR highlights Spitzer’s work with gar (a native fish species capable of reaching lengths of 10 feet) and features excerpts from his latest nonfiction fish book, Return of the Gar (University of North Texas Press, 2015). Additionally, there are interviews with local fishery experts. The episode reflects on various eco issues and ends on a highly personal note as Spitzer releases his pet gar of 10 years into the wild. Original music is provided by the Sioux City Kid (Jared Griffin) and the Little Rock band Know Who’s a Robot.
“The theme of gar returning happens on a few different levels,” Spitzer said. “On one hand, there’s a lot of collaboration now between federal and state agencies, universities, private and public labs and hatcheries, commercial fisheries, and aquariums all over the world. Basically, we’ve had some success in resurrecting alligator gar in the United States, which will be good for environmental balance, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
In other countries, though, the outlook is much bleaker for the gar family. In Return of the Gar, Spitzer investigates gar farms in Mexico and tropical gar in Costa Rica and Nicaragua to assess the global gar situation. He also fishes in Thailand, where the alligator gar is considered a trophy fish and stocked along with Mekong catfish and Amazonian arapaima.
Produced by J. Bradley Minnick (the show’s host) and Christopher Hickey at KUAR in Little Rock, Arts & Letters is an educational radio show that strives to enlighten its audience and is dedicated to showcasing aspects of the humanities and literary arts in Arkansas and beyond. Arts & Letters podcasts can be accessed through Spotify or iTunes, or through the link on KUAR’s “Return of the Gar” webpage found at http://ualrpublicradio.org/post/return-gar#stream
The “Return of the Gar” episode, was also discussed on Ann Nicholson’s Arts Scene in August (also produced at KUAR), and it was featured on WKNO’s website in Memphis.
In Conway, Return of the Gar is available at Hastings and the UCA Bookstore. It is also available online. For more information on this episode of Arts & Letters, contact Hickey at (501) 569-8485, Minnick at jbminnick@ualr.edu, or visit the Arts & Letters webpage at http://ualrpublicradio.org/programs/arts-letters.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Communication, Mass Communication and Theatre, Music and Writing. The college’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call (501) 450-3293.
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