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  • Charles Bowden's SouthwestTucson Festival of Books, March 15, 2015*
  • J. C. Mutchler, Moderator (bio), Jim Harrison, Panelists, Luis Alberto Urrea, Panelists, and Clara Jeffery, Panelists
J. C. Mutchler:

In late August of 2014, the Southwest lost one of our greatest literary voices in Chuck Bowden.… Chuck was widely known for his prose, his poetic and prolific production, and for his relentless pursuit of the truth as he saw it, whether writing about landscapes, people, or politics. His ability to transform the lives of others through both direct encouragement and through the written word are a lasting legacy that anybody could be proud of.… [I]t was here [in Tucson] that he grew up, and here where he authored some of his best-known early work, including Blue Desert and Frog Mountain [Blues], two books that forever changed the way we look at landscapes. Many of us…unfortunately lost connection with Chuck about 2009, as he moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, having turned his focus to the brutal impact of the narco-violence of the cartel drug trade along the border, especially in Juárez. This transition, though, produced the stunning and disturbing masterpieces Murder City and El Sicario, which were written with the support of his partner, editor, and often co-author, Molly Molloy.…

[O]ur panelists…, fellow authors Jim Harrison, Luis Alberto Urrea, and editor Clara Jeffery, longtime colleagues of Chuck, really need no introduction. We all know Jim Harrison as the author of more than three dozen books, including two of my all-time favorites, Dalva, and his [End Page 37] collection of gastronomic essays, The Raw and the Cooked. But what may be less well-known is Jim's long friendship with Chuck Bowden, and the frequent stays at Jim's house in Patagonia, where Chuck walked the mountain streams, observed the wildlife, and wrote in his daily logs.

Luis Alberto Urrea, an award-winning author of almost more than two dozen books now, including Devil's Highway and Hummingbird's Daughter, is only one of many writers who were greatly encouraged by Chuck early in their careers.…


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J. C. Mutchler

And Clara Jeffery, who we now know as the editor transforming Mother Jones magazine to its next level of excellence, was critical to Chuck's early career, editing and publishing his work over a period of years.

The impact and importance of Chuck's work will be with us for [End Page 38] generations to come.… I've asked each of our panelists…to speculate on the importance of Chuck's work in the years to come, and to talk about how they first met and became aware of Chuck. And I leave each of us to think of these words from Chuck himself about immigrants…: "I have crossed the line into freedom land. I have become one with trees, dirt, fangs, musk, high water, and howls in the night. If there is to be good, it must come out of us like an upwelling of rich, fat waters in the vast lonely of the thin sea."

So let the good come out of all of us like rich, fat waters, and let us begin today by celebrating Chuck Bowden's Southwest.…

Jim Harrison:

I'm ill-equipped to actually give a speech, but if I've published thirty-five books, I suppose I have something to say, albeit slender. I first met Chuck many, many years ago, because I don't keep


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Jim Harrison

[End Page 39] track of years, except by what dog I owned at the time. Then I could remember where we lived, where I walked the dog, because the great thing a dog does for you, he gets your ass up in the morning to take a walk, which is magical. So my poor dog would get up and wait to see what kind of boots I put on, and whether we were going across the creek or up in the pasture or wherever, because we split the year between Patagonia and Montana—Montana in the spring, summer, and fall, where I could fish...

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