Tune in to 89.1 FM on September 23 at 7:00 p.m. CST or Sunday, September 25 at 9:00 p.m. for KUAR’s radio program Arts & Letters Radio featuring UCA creative writing professor Mark Spitzer and the controversial fish known as burbot, which is sometimes referred to as “eelpout.” Based on a chapter from Spitzer’s 2017 eco-nonfiction book Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West, published by the University of Nebraska Press, this forthcoming radio broadcast spotlights a slimy, barbeled, mythic fish renowned for being an environmental bully. The 54-minute episode, “Burbot Bash,” produced for NPR-member station KUAR, documents Spitzer’s experience hunting this aggressive, invasive species in Wyoming and Utah. With commentary from burbot biologist Dr. Will Clark, Spitzer takes part in the Flaming Gorge Burbot Bash, a biannual fishing tournament meant to cull destructive populations and bring in tourism for a region where trout and inland salmon are now facing devastating competition for habitat.

You can listen to the radio broadcast here.

Arts & Letters Radio is an educational program that strives to enlighten its audience and is dedicated to showcasing aspects of the humanities and literary arts in Arkansas and beyond. The upcoming program was made possible through a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mark Spitzer is an associate professor of writing at the University of Central Arkansas. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Season of the Gar: Adventures in Pursuit of America’s Most Misunderstood Fish and Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West (Nebraska, 2017). Spitzer has consulted for Nat Geo’s Monster Fish and appeared on Animal Planet’s River Monsters. His most recent book is In Search of Monster Fish (Nebraska, 2019). Spitzer also wrote a series of guest posts on our blog that can be found under the heading, “Where in the Monster Fish World is Mark Spitzer?”.