Loading…
Type: Community Event clear filter
arrow_back View All Dates
Saturday, May 24
 

9:00am MDT

Where Will the Green Future Come From?
Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT
2024 National Book Award Longlist Finalist Ernest Scheyder (The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives) and Land Desk bard Jonathan Thompson (Sage Brush Rebellion, River of Lost Souls) take on the most pressing question facing public lands no one is talking about, where will the green future come from? The answer is from the ground and likely beneath our own feet.
Speakers
avatar for Ernie Scheyder

Ernie Scheyder

Senior Correspondent, Reuters
Ernest Scheyder is a senior correspondent for Reuters covering the green energy transition and critical minerals, as well as the author of the forthcoming book The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power our Lives. He previously covered the U.S. shale oil revolution... Read More →
avatar for Jonathan Thompson

Jonathan Thompson

Jonathan Thompson is a writer, editor and journalist who has been covering the lands and communities of the Western U.S. since 1996, when he signed on as the Silverton Standard & the Miner’s sole reporter. Since then he has worked in a variety of roles — from editor-in-chief to... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT
1 Steddy Theater

10:15am MDT

Building Better Roads to Wildlife Restoration
Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
Winner of the Rachel Carson Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism, Ben Goldfarb and WildEarth Guardians Executive Director, Hop Hopkins discuss the human impacts of 40 million miles of roads around the planet on wildlife and how conservationists are working to restore habitats. Join Ben Goldfarb in conversation with Dan Flores (American Coyote) in a lively discussion on habitat and our place in it.
Speakers
avatar for Dan Flores

Dan Flores

Dan Flores is a Santa Fe-area writer originally from Louisiana who spent much of his career at the University of Montana. His essays have been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Time Magazine. Along with appearances on the History Channel... Read More →
avatar for Ben Goldfarb

Ben Goldfarb

Ben Goldfarb is an environmental journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, High Country News, and many other publications. He is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, named one of the best... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
1 Steddy Theater

10:15am MDT

Historical Fiction Panel
Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
Join four exceptional novelists for a deep dive into creating the historical novel. Moderated by Shelley Read (Go As a River) this is a rare opportunity for festival workshoppers to peer into the research and writing of times long ago. 
Speakers
avatar for Shelley Read

Shelley Read

Shelley Read’s international bestselling debut novel, Go As A River, is translated into thirty-four languages and appears on bestseller lists worldwide. Winner of the 2024 High Plains Book Award for Fiction and the 2023 Reading the West Award for Best Debut, Go As A River is also... Read More →
avatar for Ramona Ausubel

Ramona Ausubel

Ramona Ausubel’s fifth book, The Last Animal was a national bestseller, a Barnes & Noble book of the month and named a best book of 2023 by NPR, Kirkus and the Oprah quarterly. Her previous books are Awayland: stories, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, A Guide to Being Born... Read More →
avatar for Elizabeth Gonzalez James

Elizabeth Gonzalez James

Elizabeth Gonzalez James is a screenwriter and bestselling author of the novels, The Bullet Swallower and Mona at Sea, as well as the chapbook, Five Conversations About Peter Sellers. The Bullet Swallower was named a best book of 2024 by NPR, Esquire, and elsewhere, was a Book of... Read More →
avatar for Karen Russell

Karen Russell

Karen Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She has received MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she now lives... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
2 King Room

10:15am MDT

Love Has Won: America and the New Age Movement
Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
In this "unflinching and wildly entertaining" investigation of the modern New Age movement in America, a journalist aims to understand how women like Amy Carlson (the leader of Love Has Won) and others become devoutly invested in their beliefs (Talia Lavin, author of Culture Warlords).

Today, tarot cards, astrology and crystals are everywhere — on Instagram and TikTok, and sold at upscale boutiques and pricey wellness retreats. Journalist Leah Sottile turns her investigative eye toward  the recent surge of New Age influencing American Culture. She looks at self-professed gurus like Love Has Won's Mother God and the mysterious channeler Ramtha, who have built devout followings based on their teachings. For more than a century, this pastel-colored world of love, light and enlightenment has been built upon a foundation of conspiracies, antisemitism, nationalism and a rejection of science.  

In Blazing Eye Sees All, Sottile seeks to understand the quest for New Age spirituality in an era of fear that has made us open to anything that claims to bring relief from war, the climate crisis, COVID 19, and the myriad of other issues we face. At the same time, she attempts to draw a line between truly helpful, healing ideas and snake oil—helping us sort through the crystals to find true clarity.
Speakers
avatar for Leah Sottile

Leah Sottile

Leah Sottile is the author of two books: Blazing Eye Sees All and When the Moon Turns to Blood. Her journalism has been published by The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Outside, the BBC, The Atlantic and High Country News, where she is a correspondent... Read More →
avatar for Laura Krantz

Laura Krantz

Laura Krantz is a journalist, editor and producer, in both radio and print, and co-founder of Foxtopus Ink. Her podcast, Wild Thing has received critical acclaim from Scientific American, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic, which named it one of the best 50 podcasts in 2018 and 2020... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
5 Kinder-Padon Gallery

11:30am MDT

The Obstacle is the Path: Lunch Conversation for Writers
Saturday May 24, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm MDT
Where do you start as a writer? Is an MFA right for me? How do you publish a poem? What are the different paths to publication? Three writers are here to answer whatever questions you have about writing life and the many paths one can take. (Dan Manzanares, Suzi Q. Smith, Steven Dunn)
Speakers
avatar for Suzi Q. Smith

Suzi Q. Smith

Suzi Q. Smith is an award-winning author, artist, educator, and organizer who lives in Denver, Colorado. While primarily known for her poetry, Suzi is also a singer-songwriter, playwright, and interdisciplinary creative. She has created, curated, coached, and taught for over 20 years... Read More →
avatar for Steven C. Dunn

Steven C. Dunn

A 2021 Whiting Award winner, and shortlisted for Granta magazine’s “Best of Young American Novelists,” Steven Dunn is the author of two books from Tarpaulin Sky Press: water & power (2018) and Potted Meat, which was a co-winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards, a finalist... Read More →
avatar for Dan Manzanares

Dan Manzanares

Dan Manzanares’ passion is helping novelists professionalize their writing process. The Story Map, a holistic storytelling model he co-created in a Costa Rican jungle, transforms writers to authors, people committed to connecting with readers. Working relationally, instead of structurally... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm MDT
5 Kinder-Padon Gallery

1:00pm MDT

Return to the Dustbowl with Karen Russell and Ramona Ausubel
Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
Pulitzer Prize Finalist and MacArthur Fellow Karen Russell joins Colorado State University professor and award winning novelist Ramona Ausubel to discuss Russell’s new novel, The Antidote. Described by Editor and Chief of Knopf as, “a singularly great American novel,”  and NPR as, 'An American Epic', this is a must-attend keynote fiction event for Mountain Words 2025.

 
Speakers
avatar for Ramona Ausubel

Ramona Ausubel

Ramona Ausubel’s fifth book, The Last Animal was a national bestseller, a Barnes & Noble book of the month and named a best book of 2023 by NPR, Kirkus and the Oprah quarterly. Her previous books are Awayland: stories, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, A Guide to Being Born... Read More →
avatar for Karen Russell

Karen Russell

Karen Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She has received MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she now lives... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
1 Steddy Theater

1:00pm MDT

The Power of Poetry with Teow Lim Goh and Erica Reid
Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
Poets Erica Reid and Teow Lim Goh read and discuss their newest works, Ghost Man on Second and Bitter Creek: An Epic Poem. Straddling the intimate and the weight of history, both wield poetry to its maximum potential as masters of form and craft. 
Speakers
avatar for Teow Lim Goh

Teow Lim Goh

Teow Lim Goh is the author of three poetry collections, Islanders (2016), Faraway Places (2021), and Bitter Creek (2025). Her essay collection Western Journeys (2022) was a finalist for the 2023 Colorado Book Awards in Creative Nonfiction. Her writing has been featured in The Georgia... Read More →
avatar for Erica Reid

Erica Reid

Erica Reid is the author of Ghost Man on Second, winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize (Autumn House Press, 2024). Erica’s poems appear in Rattle, Cherry Tree, Colorado Review, and more. Erica is a 2025 Fellow at the Vermont Center for the Creative Arts and teaches in Western... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
2 King Room

2:15pm MDT

Creating Narrative Around the Personal with Deaborah Jackson Taffa, Chris La Tray, and Hillary Leftwich TICKETED
Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT
Join moderator Hillary Leftwich and panelists Deborah Jackson Taffa and Chris La Tray, as they discuss the innate ability to create narrative and how it is hewn in the memoir drafting process to carve personal stories from the bark of history. 
Speakers
avatar for Chris La Tray

Chris La Tray

Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller. His first book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays From the World At Large (2018, Riverfeet Press) won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award.His second book, a collection of haiku and haibun poetry called De... Read More →
avatar for Deborah Taffa

Deborah Taffa

Deborah Taffa’s Whiskey Tender, a National Book Award Finalist 2024, as well as a longlisted title for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence, was named to the year’s best lists at Time Magazine, Esquire, Publisher’s Weekly, The Atlantic, Audible, Esquire, and other outlets... Read More →
avatar for Hillary Leftwich

Hillary Leftwich

Hillary Leftwich is a multi-media writer and the author of Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock (Agape Editions, 2023), Aura (Future Tense Books, 2022), and Saint Dymphna’s Playbook (forthcoming from Limit Zero, 2025). She teaches creative writing, business writing, and... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT
2 King Room

3:30pm MDT

Publishing Panel-From No to Yes with Shelley Read and Olivia Chadha TICKETED
Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT
The road to publishing a book can be long and filled with personal struggle, especially in sustaining a string of rejection, a hallmark of writers everywhere. Join beloved Mountain Words authors, Shelley Read (Go As a River) and Olivia Chadha (Rise of the Red Hand) as they talk about the pitfalls of a career in writing, 
Speakers
avatar for Olivia Chadha

Olivia Chadha

Olivia Chadha writes science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and literary novels for MG, YA, and adult audiences. She has a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing and her research centers on the history of exile, India’s Partition, precarious borders and boundaries, global folklore... Read More →
avatar for Shelley Read

Shelley Read

Shelley Read’s international bestselling debut novel, Go As A River, is translated into thirty-four languages and appears on bestseller lists worldwide. Winner of the 2024 High Plains Book Award for Fiction and the 2023 Reading the West Award for Best Debut, Go As A River is also... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT
2 King Room

4:45pm MDT

Fiction Workshop-Writing Strong Voice with Elizabeth James Gonzales TICKETED
Saturday May 24, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm MDT
MAKING YOURSELF HEARD: WRITING STRONG VOICE IN FICTION
Voice is the intelligence behind the narration. It is the attitude and the emotion. It gives subtle clues about who’s speaking and what’s going on. Over time, voice forms a distinctive pattern that makes your work recognizable and unique to you. For anyone planning on publishing their work, voice is vital. Agents and editors frequently cite voice as the most important element that makes a manuscript stand out from the slush pile.

In this session, we will discuss six elements of voice in fiction with examples pulled from works by Deesha Phillyaw, Albert Camus, Denise Chavez, and John Kennedy Toole. Then we'll do an exercise where we will explore how we can strengthen our narrative voice.
Speakers
avatar for Elizabeth Gonzalez James

Elizabeth Gonzalez James

Elizabeth Gonzalez James is a screenwriter and bestselling author of the novels, The Bullet Swallower and Mona at Sea, as well as the chapbook, Five Conversations About Peter Sellers. The Bullet Swallower was named a best book of 2024 by NPR, Esquire, and elsewhere, was a Book of... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm MDT
2 King Room

6:00pm MDT

Native Writers Read TICKETED
Saturday May 24, 2025 6:00pm - 7:00pm MDT
This is THE premier reading for Mountain Words. These writers come to readers from the edges of a collective history that demands more than rote understanding of what it means to be Indigenous in the US. This is sure to be an evening of powerful storytelling from voices too powerful to be ignored. 
Speakers
avatar for Suzi Q. Smith

Suzi Q. Smith

Suzi Q. Smith is an award-winning author, artist, educator, and organizer who lives in Denver, Colorado. While primarily known for her poetry, Suzi is also a singer-songwriter, playwright, and interdisciplinary creative. She has created, curated, coached, and taught for over 20 years... Read More →
avatar for Aaron John Curtis

Aaron John Curtis

Aaron John Curtis is an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which he’ll tell you is the white name for the American side of Akwesasne. Aaron has judged for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance prizes, the 2019 Kirkus... Read More →
avatar for Chris La Tray

Chris La Tray

Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller. His first book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays From the World At Large (2018, Riverfeet Press) won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award.His second book, a collection of haiku and haibun poetry called De... Read More →
avatar for CMarie Fuhrman

CMarie Fuhrman

CMarie Fuhrman is the author of Salmon Weather: Writing from the Land of No Return, Camped Beneath the Dam: Poems and the co-editor of Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, and Poetry and Native Voices: Indigenous Poetry, Craft, and Conversations. She has published poetry and nonfiction... Read More →
avatar for Deborah Taffa

Deborah Taffa

Deborah Taffa’s Whiskey Tender, a National Book Award Finalist 2024, as well as a longlisted title for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence, was named to the year’s best lists at Time Magazine, Esquire, Publisher’s Weekly, The Atlantic, Audible, Esquire, and other outlets... Read More →
Saturday May 24, 2025 6:00pm - 7:00pm MDT
1 Steddy Theater
 
Mountain Words Festival
From $0.00
Share Modal

Share this link via

Or copy link

Filter sessions
Apply filters to sessions.
Filtered by Date -