Mountain Words Festival: Full Schedule

4:30pm MDT

Crested Butte Magazine Release Party

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:30pm - 5:30pm MDT

4 Grace Atrium

Thursday May 22, 2025 4:30pm - 5:30pm MDT
4 Grace Atrium 606 6th St

Community Event, Free

5:30pm MDT

George Sibley Documentary and Award Presentation

Thursday May 22, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm MDT

1 Steddy Theater

Mountain Words honors one the Gunnison Valley’s most influential writers with the debut of a short film and a medley of guests presenters who have intersected with George Sibley.

Thursday May 22, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm MDT
1 Steddy Theater 606 6th St

Community Event, Free

9:00am MDT

Uncovering the Unspoken: A Generative Memoir Writing Workshop

Friday May 23, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT

2 King Room

In this generative writing workshop, we’ll tap into the transformative power of memoir.
We’ll explore how personal experience, imagination, and desire can shape meaningful narratives, while connecting to the collective moment. Through guided exercises, we’ll reflect on our vulnerabilities, complexities, and intuitions—both personal and shared. Together, we’ll dive into the challenge of expressing what often feels inexpressible. We’ll push boundaries, taking creative risks as we engage with difficult emotions and explore the messy, sometimes uncomfortable truths of our experiences.This workshop will encourage you to confront, tackle, and embrace the full spectrum of your story.

Speakers

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 →

Friday May 23, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop

10:15am MDT

Story Map Workshop Part 1 TICKETED

Friday May 23, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

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 →

Doug Kurtz

For nearly three decades Doug Kurtz has taught writers in every context from universities and nonprofits to international retreats and his own coaching business. He is the co-creator of the Story Map, a holistic methodology that helps novelists of all stripes and skill levels write... Read More →

Friday May 23, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop

12:30pm MDT

Story Map Workshop Part 2 TICKETED

Friday May 23, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

Dan Manzanares

Doug Kurtz

Friday May 23, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop

1:45pm MDT

David Wroblewski and Shelley Read TICKETED

Friday May 23, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm MDT

2 King Room

Novelists David Wroblewski and Shelley Read discuss the deep work involved in drafting the novel. From character to plot, these veteran writers peer into the murky depths where fiction comes from.

Speakers

David Wroblewski

Shelley Read

Friday May 23, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Conversation

3:00pm MDT

A Play in Two Hours Part 1 TICKETED

Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

Steven Cole Hughes

Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop

4:15pm MDT

A Play in Two Hours Part 2 TICKETED

Friday May 23, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

Steven Cole Hughes

Friday May 23, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop

9:00am MDT

Where Will the Green Future Come From? TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT

1 Steddy Theater

2024 National Book Award Longlister Ernest Scheyder and Land Desk bard Jonathan Thompson 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

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 →

Jonathan Thompson

Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT
1 Steddy Theater 606 6th St

Conversation, Free

9:00am MDT

Agents Advice Workshop

Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT

3 Hawk Room

Speakers

Kimberly Peticolas

Editor, Agent, & Publisher, Kimpeticolas.com

Maria Whelan

Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT
3 Hawk Room 606 6th St

Workshop

9:00am MDT

Environmental Poetry Workshop TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

Rajiv Mohabir

Saturday May 24, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop

10:15am MDT

Beyond Reason TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT

3 Hawk Room

Speakers

Laura Krantz

Leah Sottile

Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
3 Hawk Room 606 6th St

Conversation

10:15am MDT

Building Better Roads to Wildlife Restoration TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT

1 Steddy Theater

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.

Speakers

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 606 6th St

Conversation, Free

10:15am MDT

Historical Fiction Panel

Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

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 →

Elizabeth Gonzalez James

Elizabeth Gonzalez James is the author of the novels Mona at Sea and The Bullet Swallower as well as the chapbook Five Conversations About Peter Sellers.

Karen Russell

Saturday May 24, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Panel

11:30am MDT

The Obstacle is the Path: Lunch Conversation for Writers TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm MDT

5 Kinder-Padon Gallery

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

Suzi Q. Smith

Steven C. Dunn

Dan Manzanares

Saturday May 24, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm MDT
5 Kinder-Padon Gallery

Panel, Free

1:00pm MDT

Power of Poetry

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT

3 Hawk Room

Speakers

Teow Lim Goh

Teow Lim Goh is the author of Islanders (Conundrum Press, 2016), a volume of poems on the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station. She lives in Denver.

Erica Reid

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
3 Hawk Room 606 6th St

Conversation

1:00pm MDT

Return to the Dustbowl TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT

1 Steddy Theater

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,” this is a must attend event for Mountain Words 2025.

Speakers

Ramona Ausubel

Karen Russell

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
1 Steddy Theater 606 6th St

Conversation, Free

1:00pm MDT

Wildlife Panel

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT

2 King Room

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Panel

1:30pm MDT

Festival Book Sales and Signing TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:30pm - 5:00pm MDT

4 Grace Atrium

Saturday May 24, 2025 1:30pm - 5:00pm MDT
4 Grace Atrium 606 6th St

2:15pm MDT

Godfather Meets Game of Thrones

Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT

1 Steddy Theater

National Book Award Finalist, Hugo and Nebula Award winning author Paolo Bacigalupi discusses his newest book, Navola with author Olivia Chadha.

Speakers

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 →

Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi is an internationally bestselling author of speculative fiction. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, John W. Campbell and Locus Awards, as well as being a finalist for the National Book Award and a winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young... Read More →

Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT
1 Steddy Theater 606 6th St

Conversation, Free

2:15pm MDT

Wolves

Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

Eil Francovich

Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Conversation

2:15pm MDT

Creating Narrative Around the Personal TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT

3 Hawk Room

With Hillary Leftwich, Deborah Taffa, and Chris La Tray

Speakers

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 →

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 →

Hillary Leftwich

Saturday May 24, 2025 2:15pm - 3:15pm MDT
3 Hawk Room 606 6th St

Panel

3:30pm MDT

The Business of Everest TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT

1 Steddy Theater

Journalist Will Cockrell discusses his book, Everest, Inc. The Renegades and Rouges Who Built and Industry at the Top of the World.

Speakers

Will Cockrell

Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT
1 Steddy Theater 606 6th St

Conversation, Free

3:30pm MDT

Nonfiction Workshop

Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT

3 Hawk Room

Speakers

Rebecca Boyle

Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT
3 Hawk Room 606 6th St

Workshop

3:30pm MDT

Publishing Panel TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT

2 King Room

Saturday May 24, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop

4:45pm MDT

Crazies TICKETED

Saturday May 24, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm MDT

1 Steddy Theater

Speakers

Justin Farrell

Saturday May 24, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm MDT
1 Steddy Theater 606 6th St

Conversation, Free

4:45pm MDT

Fiction Workshop

Saturday May 24, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm MDT

2 King Room

Speakers

Elizabeth Gonzalez James

Elizabeth Gonzalez James is the author of the novels Mona at Sea and The Bullet Swallower as well as the chapbook Five Conversations About Peter Sellers.

Saturday May 24, 2025 4:45pm - 5:45pm MDT
2 King Room 606 6th St

Workshop