BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
X-WR-CALNAME:mtnwords26
X-WR-CALDESC:Event Calendar
METHOD:PUBLISH
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:-//Sched.com Mountain Words Festival 2026//EN
X-WR-TIMEZONE:UTC
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260521T233000Z
DTEND:20260522T003000Z
SUMMARY:Festival Kick-Off Party!
DESCRIPTION:Join fellow attendees to pick up your badges and grab a drink to connect before the weekend of literary magic!
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Grace Atrium\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:69b45367418e71bc63aea886c66c886f
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/69b45367418e71bc63aea886c66c886f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T003000Z
DTEND:20260522T023000Z
SUMMARY:Come See Me in the Good Light (Documentary Screening)
DESCRIPTION:\n\nCome See Me in the Good Light is a 2025 documentary film directed by Ryan White. Retracing the life of American poet\, Colorado Poet Laurete\, and activist Andrea Gibson.\nCritically acclaimed\, it is included on the National Board of Review Top 5 Documentaries of 2025\, receiving several awards and nominations including the Academy Awards\, Satellite Awards and Film Independent Spirit Awards. \n\n
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:9077a487e955070ba863eae0f1a1055a
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/9077a487e955070ba863eae0f1a1055a
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T150000Z
DTEND:20260522T160000Z
SUMMARY:Creativity with Mashuq Mushtaq Deen: Mapping the Inner Landscape of Your Work
DESCRIPTION:Mapping the Inner Landscape of Your Work\n We often talk about what we write\, but rarely where it comes from. How do our identities\, histories\, and personal values come together to form the lens or prism through which our words appear? In this session\, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen shares a cartographic approach to understanding our own creative ecosystems. Participants will be guided through a reflective inquiry before creating their own visual process maps\, charting the unseen forces that shape not just our artistic voices\, but our lives as creators.
CATEGORIES:CREATIVITY
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:8971da45d8b217132e293e0fd9c4a845
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/8971da45d8b217132e293e0fd9c4a845
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T150000Z
DTEND:20260522T160000Z
SUMMARY:Claire Boyles Fiction Workshop: Beyond the Forest and the Trees: Layers of Landscape and Place
DESCRIPTION:Join short fiction writer and novelist Claire Boyles in a workshop to stimulate your creative process.\n\nBeyond the Forest and the Trees: Layers of Landscape and Place\n\nThe author Robert Macfarlane writes: “The best of the recent [nature] writing is ethically alert\, theoretically literate and wary of the seductions and corruptions of the pastoral. It is sensitive to the dark histories of landscapes and to the structures of ownership and capital that organise – though do not wholly produce – our relations with the natural world.” &nbsp\;To capture this complexity of place\, writers must describe the immediate sensory experience of the story (the trees) and the way those physical details operate on character and story tension (the forest). They must also portray\, to some degree\, the historical and political contexts surrounding both (the atmosphere). In exploring these layers of landscape and place\, writers will learn techniques for widening the scope of their work.
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:485721503f8a30d75a827cc38e7838f9
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/485721503f8a30d75a827cc38e7838f9
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T150000Z
DTEND:20260522T160000Z
SUMMARY:The Secret Magic of the Soulful Poem with Wendy Videlock
DESCRIPTION:Finding the Magic and the Soul of Poetry with Wendy Videlock\n \n In this generative workshop we will discover a variety of delightful techniques to hush our inner critics and rediscover poetry as fundamentally fun — as well as illuminating. We will approach the poem as an open invitation and will begin to understand how musicality is key to opening the subconscious and cultivating our own unique voices. We will find new ways to understand three important poetic devices and how they work to free the imagination and render language limber. Participants will write poems from prompts that wake up our relationship to language\, landscape and the imagination. Those who wish to share with the class will be given opportunity to do so and Wendy will provide individual feedback to anybody who would like it. For all skill levels. Please bring a notebook\, a pen and an open mind.
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:a74bd3872711a058e387a837dca5732b
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/a74bd3872711a058e387a837dca5732b
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T161500Z
DTEND:20260522T171500Z
SUMMARY:Instant Story Map Part 1
DESCRIPTION:In this two-part seminar\, geared for both novelists and memoirists\, writing coaches Dan Manzanares and Doug Kurtz will use spontaneous ideas from workshop attendees to create a story any agent would drool to read. We'll activate the Story Map\, a relational storytelling model\, to show the group in real time how a story works and how easy it is to go from first concept to full draft.
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:0dc8a09965b4e94eaa669817c97251ca
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/0dc8a09965b4e94eaa669817c97251ca
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T161500Z
DTEND:20260522T171500Z
SUMMARY:Rajiv Mohabir Poetry Workshop
DESCRIPTION:This generative session with poet Rajiv Mohabir (Whale Aria\, Antiman\, I Will Not Go) is a must-do for nature writers.\n \n Poet\, memoirist\, and translator\, Rajiv Mohabir is the author of five books of poetry that have been awarded gold in Forward Indies and Eric Hoffer Medal Provocateur. His other honors include being finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award\, the PEN/America Open Book Award\, the Lambda Literary Award\, the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction\, and both second place and finalist for the Guyana Prize for Literature. His translations have won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the American Academy of Poets. Currently he teaches poetry at the University of Colorado Boulder.
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4b54fc8601d946e05e7a5fe33145ae51
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/4b54fc8601d946e05e7a5fe33145ae51
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T173000Z
DTEND:20260522T183000Z
SUMMARY:Mitzi Rapkin First Draft Podcast Live Recording with Emily Rapp Black
DESCRIPTION:Join seasoned literary podcasted Mitzi Rapkin for a talk with&nbsp\;author of the New York Times bestseller book Poster Child\, The Still Point of the Turning World\, Sanctuary\, and Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg. Her new book\,&nbsp\;I Would Die If I Were You: Notes on Art and Truth-Telling&nbsp\;is&nbsp\;an anti-ablest\, feminist book about creativity\, one that grapples with how to cultivate a vibrant and joyful life from hard experiences and grief. Emily describes it herself: "It's like Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act for very sad\, super smart people."\n \nFor her entire life\, Emily has been answering questions in elevators: what’s wrong with you? What happened to your body?&nbsp\;(Emily lost her leg when she was a child\, which she writes about in her 2021 memoir Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg) and\, in the case of her son’s terminal illness and death\, she’s been told more times than she can count: “I would die if I were you.” But\, as Emily says\, she is alive—and lived—precisely because&nbsp\;she learned how to frame and write about some of the most difficult stories a person can live through\, alchemizing pain into truth and meaning.\n \nAs someone who writes and teaches books about loss and grief\, two very loaded and universal subjects\, Black wanted to write a book that would empower readers with “conversation stopping” stories to tell their stories in a way that can be healing for those who may have been forced to live a similar story.\n \nBased on two decades of teaching a wide range of students with diverse and difficult experiences\, I Would Die If I Were You is a book for people who have ever felt like their story was “too sad” to tell\, or didn’t want to tell their story because the emotional burden of the response of the listener was its own kind of traumatic event. It's a book for readers of George Saunders\, Melissa Febos\, and Lidia Yuknavitch—writers of those special kinds of craft books that go well beyond discussing writing and creativity to explore broader subjects like friendship\, love\, loss\, parenting\, the body\, and more.
CATEGORIES:MEMOIR
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:b5ade832e985706c4de0503d67cfe838
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/b5ade832e985706c4de0503d67cfe838
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T193000Z
DTEND:20260522T203000Z
SUMMARY:Instant Story Map Part 2
DESCRIPTION:In this two-part seminar\, geared for both novelists and memoirists\, writing coaches Dan Manzanares and Doug Kurtz will use spontaneous ideas from workshop attendees to create a story any agent would drool to read. We'll activate the Story Map\, a relational storytelling model\, to show the group in real time how a story works and how easy it is to go from first concept to full draft.
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:a7dca3ba9dbbc6948b2f32e10936afa4
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/a7dca3ba9dbbc6948b2f32e10936afa4
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T204500Z
DTEND:20260522T214500Z
SUMMARY:Writing Immersive Fiction
DESCRIPTION:Modern readers want to immerse themselves in your story\, to feel what the characters see and feel. This class will extend the common exhortation of “show\, don’t tell” to the idea of “inside/outside.” Learn how to bring your reader into the world and emotions of the characters. Come prepared to write.
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:f2be88a2dc0ab56d6f84059c2685807d
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/f2be88a2dc0ab56d6f84059c2685807d
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T204500Z
DTEND:20260522T214500Z
SUMMARY:Zooming In and Out in Memoir with River Selby
DESCRIPTION:Join writer River Selby for a session on writing memoir. Selby is the author of Hotshot: A Life on Fire. Selby was a wildland firefighter whose given name was Anastasia. This is a memoir of that time in their life—of Ana\, the struggles she encountered\, and the constraints of what it means to be female-bodied in a male-dominated industry. An illuminating debut from a fierce new voice\, Hotshot is a timely reckoning with both the personal and environmental dangers of wildland firefighting.\n\nZooming in and Out in Memoir-\n\nWriting a memoir can be overwhelming\, especially if one story is emotionally charged (and it often is). In this generative workshop\, River Selby\, author of Hotshot: A Life on Fire\, a Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of 2025\, will help writers identify a particular scene\, zoom in\, and then reflect on the elements surrounding that scene in a way that illuminates the material for both writers and readers. Bring a seed of a scene into the workshop– anything works\; and expect to leave inspired and ready to continue writing.
CATEGORIES:MEMOIR
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e9c28ab0161369f90f5d288c0aba9947
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/e9c28ab0161369f90f5d288c0aba9947
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T204500Z
DTEND:20260522T214500Z
SUMMARY:Michael Hettich Poetry Workshop: Techniques for Discovery
DESCRIPTION:Poet Michael Hettich\, with decades of experience with writing and reading poetry leads this generative workshop for poets of all levels.\n\nOne of the fallacies all writers hear at some point is that one should “write what you know.” Infact\, the thrill of writing poetry lies in discovering what one does not know\, or\, more accurately\,what one does not know one knows. Thus\, the successful poem is one that surprises the poetherself with its discovered truth—or even\, in extremely rare moments\, with its revelation. In thisshort workshop\, I will present some basic approaches to the practice of writing poetry that allowthe writer to use cadence and image as a vehicle for exploration and discovery. We will write inresponse to various prompts and share what comes our way\, and I will share advice for how tointegrate a regular and productive poetic practice into our busy lives.
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:00cbe46b50fe49b3769dfa8acb860bca
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/00cbe46b50fe49b3769dfa8acb860bca
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T220000Z
DTEND:20260523T000000Z
SUMMARY:Crested Butte Magazine Release Party
DESCRIPTION:Mountain Words partner and sponson\, Crested Butte Magazine\, will release their newest edition with fun and fanfare. Join Mountain Words Founder and now editor of the CB Magazine\, Brooke Macmillan along with the contributors of this year's summer magazine for a drink and camaraderie. Mountain Words presenter Claire Boyles\, a Crested Butte Mountain Words Writer in Residence will be there to celebrate her piece with the complement of long time writers for the magazine.&nbsp\;\n\n\n
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Bruhaus\, 223 Elk Ave
SEQUENCE:0
UID:016b12c0ce403cdded6713932507f659
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/016b12c0ce403cdded6713932507f659
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T220000Z
DTEND:20260522T230000Z
SUMMARY:How to Be a Good Ancestor with John Hausdoerffer
DESCRIPTION:John Hausdoerffer\, author of the collection\, How to Be a Good Ancestor\, leads this session giving storytellers the depth and persepective to tell better stories.
CATEGORIES:CREATIVITY
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:c59f18390ac043ff760fbdb597b53f33
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/c59f18390ac043ff760fbdb597b53f33
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T220000Z
DTEND:20260522T230000Z
SUMMARY:Drafting the Novel Discussion with Nina McConigley and Claire Boyles
DESCRIPTION:Debut novelists Nina McConigley (How to Commit a Post Colonial Murder) and Claire Boyles (Appraisals) discuss the road to publication.&nbsp\;
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e953a936e30e4e2d40cfd3e2a3327595
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/e953a936e30e4e2d40cfd3e2a3327595
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260522T220000Z
DTEND:20260522T230000Z
SUMMARY:Writing Poems of Imagination and Resistance with Karen Terrey
DESCRIPTION:“Poetry has the intangible\, almost inexplicable power to make something happen\, to move people\, to console the inconsolable.” – Martin Espada\n\n“The challenges of the form ask us to move past our first impulses\, to attend to aspects of poem we might otherwise ignore\, to invite surprise\, and to allow meaning to grow organically”–Maggie Queeney\n\nHow can we call on the tools of imagination and resistance in our writing to strengthen our voice and agency on the page and in our lives? In this generative writing workshop\, we’ll read poems by poets we admire that integrate social/ public experience with the personal. The first part of this workshop explores the craft of powerful narrative and lyric poems that take on charged events. How does the poet enter the subject matter? How are poetic elements incorporated\, such as voice\, image\, and form? We will consider choices the poet makes such as who is the audience\, who is the speaker\, and what is the conceit? With the poems as models and using provocative prompts\, we’ll draft one or two new poems. You’ll leave with new poems and fresh techniques for how to handle challenging material.
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:6c1b3cb22c37148375b167664c1d6bd9
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/6c1b3cb22c37148375b167664c1d6bd9
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T000000Z
DTEND:20260523T010000Z
SUMMARY:Community Read @Gunnison Branch Library w/David Baron - American Eclipse
DESCRIPTION:Join readers from all over Gunnison County in celebrating David Baron's American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World. American Eclipse by is about the 1878 total solar eclipse that crossed the American West\, focusing on the race between scientists like Thomas Edison\, Maria Mitchell\, and James Craig Watson to study it\, revealing America's rise as a scientific power during the Gilded Age. The book blends scientific history with adventure\, covering the challenges of the era\, including train robberies and the frontier setting\, to tell the story of this significant astronomical event.\n\nPLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT IS AT THE GUNNISON BRANCH LIBRARY
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Gunnison Branch Library\, 1 Quartz St\, Gunnison\, CO 81230\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:5e1f478e98feae51db3d84c542d36ecf
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/5e1f478e98feae51db3d84c542d36ecf
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T010000Z
DTEND:20260523T023000Z
SUMMARY:Myth Understandings: An Evening of Comedy with Shane Mauss
DESCRIPTION:Why do so many persistent myths\, superstitions\, and folk beliefs arise? Why does our social brain love stories that feel true over facts that are true? Shane’s newest show explores how the weirdest\, funniest misunderstandings in human history come from our very human minds.\nExpect to laugh and learn in equal measure as we explore:\nCartoonishly bad ideas that stuck around for centuriesHow cognitive biases and social instincts drive our love of myth and loreWhy modern misinformation feels so compellingIt’s part aha\, part haha\, and all about celebrating curiosity and the pursuit of understanding.
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:0def8432d2da86b977f95c4ea141b331
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/0def8432d2da86b977f95c4ea141b331
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T150000Z
DTEND:20260523T160000Z
SUMMARY:In-Conversation Megan-Kate Nelson with Ryan Warner Colorado Public Radio
DESCRIPTION:Megan Kate-Nelson discusses her newest book Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier with Ryan Warner of Colorado Public Radio.&nbsp\;\n\nBorn and raised in Colorado\, Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer based in Boston\, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of five books\, including The Three-Cornered War: The Union\, the Confederacy\, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History) and Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Nonfiction). Her new book\, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier\, will be published by Scribner in March 2026.\n \nMegan writes about the Civil War\, the U.S. West\, and American culture for The New York Times\, Washington Post\, The Atlantic\, Smithsonian Magazine\, Slate\, and Time. She is an elected member of the prestigious Society of American Historians and was the 2024-2025 Rogers Distinguished Fellow in Nineteenth-Century American History at the Huntington Library in San Marino\, California.\n\nhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/24/arts/megan-kate-nelson-westerners/
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:500f132b97dddfff9cb5b27e11427efe
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/500f132b97dddfff9cb5b27e11427efe
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T150000Z
DTEND:20260523T161500Z
SUMMARY:Re-Enchantment\, a Walk with Brooke Williams and Nancy Gex Jones
DESCRIPTION:Join Brooke Williams and therapist\, Nancy Gex Jones for a short walk from Rumors Coffee to Totem Pole Park\, 2 1/2 blocks away\, to sit near the river and discuss Williams' work and connection with the natural world. If inclement weather\, this will be held in the Rumors Work Loft.&nbsp\;&nbsp\;\n\nBrooke Williams writes about evolution\, consciousness\, and his own adventures exploring both the inner and outer wilderness. He lives with the writer\, Terry Tempest Williams near Moab\, Utah\, where they watch light and wait for rain.\n\nTwo decades ago\, naturalist and environmental writer Brooke Williams had a powerful dream about a dragonfly\, a dream that cracked open his world by giving rise to a steady stream of dragonfly encounters in his waking life. In the years since\, he has delved deeply into the fascinating biology and natural history of dragonflies and made pilgrimages to see them (he now has 38 species on his life list) while also exploring their symbolic meaning and cultural significance.\n\nEncountering Dragonfly is his account—related in a series of odonate encounters—of being drawn into a different kind of relationship with the natural world. By opening himself to the personal and mytho-poetic meanings of dragonfly\, and patiently courting an understanding of these creatures that is built upon\, but also transcends\, a naturalist’s observation\, Brooke has come to believe in the importance of ‘re-enchantment.’
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Rumors Coffee and Tea House/ Townie Books\, 414 Elk Ave
SEQUENCE:0
UID:3e890e73b8ed276b6c02d5fe1e09124f
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/3e890e73b8ed276b6c02d5fe1e09124f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T150000Z
DTEND:20260523T160000Z
SUMMARY:Poets In-Conversation with Michael Hettich and Erica Reid
DESCRIPTION:What makes a poet?\n\nErica Reid dives into the life and work of poet and writer\, Michael Hettich. Join this reading and discussion between one poet creating community here in Colorado and another who has shaped the writing of countless students for decades.&nbsp\;\n\nHettich is the author of the poetry collection\, A Sharper Silence\, published by Terrapin Books in 2025. It has been called a “heartfelt\, heartbreaking collection” (Marie Harris). His previous book of poetry\, The Halo of Bees: New and Selected Poems\, 1990-2022 won the 2024 Brockman-Campbell Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. His poetry\, essays\, and reviews have appeared widely in journals and anthologies\, and he has published more than a dozen books of poetry across four decades. His other honors include several Individual Artist Fellowships from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs\, The Tampa Review Prize in Poetry\, the David Martinson/Meadowhawk Prize\, a Florida Book Award\, the Lena M. Shull Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society\, and the inaugural Hudson-Fowler Prize from Slant magazine at the University of Central Arkansas. A new book of poems\, Waking Up Alone\, is forthcoming in 2026. He lives in Black Mountain\, North Carolina. His website is michaelhettich.com. \n\nErica Reid is the author of Ghost Man on Second\,&nbsp\;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 Colorado University’s MFA program. ericareidpoet.com
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:32b40893ba1b373833c97b5ea53cb402
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/32b40893ba1b373833c97b5ea53cb402
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T150000Z
DTEND:20260523T160000Z
SUMMARY:The Editor is In! Conversation with Rakesh Satyal
DESCRIPTION:Author and editor Rakesh Satyal discusses the author-editor relationship and process with festival director\, Arvin Ram. This will be an excellent opportunity for all writers to understand what happens to a manuscript once it goes from the agent phase\, to the publisher phase of its life.&nbsp\;\n\n Satyal is the author of the novels Blue Boy&nbsp\;and No One Can Pronounce My Name. Blue Boy won a Lambda Literary Award\, the Prose/Poetry Award from the Association of Asian American Studies\, and was adapted into an award-winning short film by the actor-writer-director Nik Dodani\, who is currently developing it into a feature film. No One Can Pronounce My Name was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. Satyal is currently an Executive Editor at the HarperOne Group/HarperCollins and currently sits on the advisor council for Princeton University's Lewis Center for the Arts. He lives in Brooklyn.
CATEGORIES:PUBLISHING
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:432612660ce26fd00580453630a3364e
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/432612660ce26fd00580453630a3364e
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T161500Z
DTEND:20260523T171500Z
SUMMARY:The Science of Funny: A Comedy Writing Deep Dive with Shane Mauss
DESCRIPTION:What makes something funny—and why do some jokes land while others fall flat? Join comedian and storyteller Shane Mauss for an insightful and entertaining deep dive into the mechanics of comedy. Blending sharp theory with real-world experience\, Shane breaks down the fundamentals of humor—timing\, structure\, surprise—and how they show up across different formats.\nFrom stand-up and storytelling to social media and infotainment\, Shane explores how writing shifts depending on the platform\, audience\, and intent. Drawing from his own evolving career\, he shares what he’s learned along the way—how his voice has changed\, what’s worked (and what hasn’t)\, and how to keep pushing creative boundaries while staying authentic.\nWhether you’re a comedian\, writer\, or just comedy-curious\, this lecture offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the craft from someone actively shaping it. The session will wrap with a Q&A\, so come ready with questions and ideas.
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:2cad13ffea62e4c393e738582242df1b
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/2cad13ffea62e4c393e738582242df1b
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T161500Z
DTEND:20260523T171500Z
SUMMARY:World-building and Setting Through Rap Lyrics
DESCRIPTION:With urgency\, rappers build dynamic three-dimensional worlds and settings in the small space of a verse and song. How do they do this\, and what can we learn from them to change our own writing? We'll watch music videos and analyze lyrics of rap songs to figure out what makes their worlds feel developed and immersive.
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:950033afc7faca66a71ca14086e04a84
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/950033afc7faca66a71ca14086e04a84
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T161500Z
DTEND:20260523T171500Z
SUMMARY:Martians! The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America with David Baron and Laura Krantz
DESCRIPTION:David Baron discusses his new book\, Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America with Laura Krantz\n\n“There Is Life on the Planet Mars” ―New York Times\, December 9\, 1906\n\nThis New York Times headline was no joke. In the early 1900s\, many Americans actually believed we had discovered intelligent life on Mars\, as best-selling science writer David Baron chronicles in The Martians\, his truly bizarre tale of a nation swept up in Mars mania.\nAt the center of Baron’s historical drama is Percival Lowell\, the Boston Brahmin and Harvard scion\, who observed “canals” etched into the surface of Mars. Lowell devised a grand theory that the red planet was home to a utopian society that had built gargantuan ditches to funnel precious meltwater from the polar icecaps to desert farms and oasis cities. The public fell in love with the ambitious amateur astronomer who shared his findings in speeches and wildly popular books.\nWhile at first people treated the Martians whimsically—Martians headlining Broadway shows\, biologists speculating whether they were winged or gilled—the discussion quickly became serious. Inventor Nikola Tesla announced he had received radio signals from Mars\; Alexander Graham Bell agreed there was “no escape from the conviction” that intelligent beings inhabited the planet. Martian excitement reached its zenith when Lowell financed an expedition to photograph Mars from Chile’s Atacama Desert\, resulting in what newspapers hailed as proof of the Martian canals’ existence.\nTriumph quickly yielded to tragedy. Those wild claims and highly speculative photographs emboldened Lowell’s critics\, whose withering attacks gathered steam and eventually wrecked the man and his theory—but not the fervor he had started. Although Lowell would die discredited and delusional in 1916\, the Mars frenzy spurred a nascent literary genre called science fiction\, and the world’s sense of its place in the universe would never be the same.\nToday\, the red planet maintains its grip on the public’s imagination. Many see Mars as civilization’s destiny—the first step toward our becoming an interplanetary species—but\, as David Baron demonstrates\, this tendency to project our hopes onto the world next door is hardly new. The Martians is a scintillating and necessary reminder that while we look to Mars for answers\, what we often find are mirrors of ourselves.
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4c3224c83b84684c6cf11dc445ecf15a
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/4c3224c83b84684c6cf11dc445ecf15a
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T161500Z
DTEND:20260523T171500Z
SUMMARY:NEW Inside the Author-Agent Relationship
DESCRIPTION:When plans shift\, the conversation deepens. Join acclaimed Colorado authors Claire Boyles and Shelley Read for an inside look at the author-agent relationship — from finding representation to navigating the publishing world — in an honest\, engaging literary discussion.
CATEGORIES:PUBLISHING
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:63f801f72e0f68cb95bd7decdd32d2de
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/63f801f72e0f68cb95bd7decdd32d2de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T173000Z
DTEND:20260523T183000Z
SUMMARY:ON COMICS with Benjamin Percy and Dan McClellan
DESCRIPTION:Why does a bible scholar wear comic book t-shirts? Why does a celebrated novelist continue to write some of the most celebrated comics of our time?\n\nAuthors Dan McClellan (The Bible Says So) and Benjamin Percy (Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction\, Red Moon\, Wolverine\, Black Panther\, Star Wars: Maul\, Predator) discuss their lifelong love of comics\, how it shaped them\, and Percy's work on iconic characters for Marvel and DC.
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:c68e696f032db46502549ee2e172b702
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/c68e696f032db46502549ee2e172b702
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T173000Z
DTEND:20260523T183000Z
SUMMARY:A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF: In-Conversation- Megha Majumdar and Nina McConigley
DESCRIPTION:Megha Majumdar discusses her newest praiseworthy novel\, A Guardian and a Theif with debut novelist Nina McConigley
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:9677d1f14096bc82f6dda709ec059ba3
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/9677d1f14096bc82f6dda709ec059ba3
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T173000Z
DTEND:20260523T183000Z
SUMMARY:Megan-Kate Nelson and Garrett Peck on Researching History
DESCRIPTION:Megan Kate-Nelson and Garrett Peck discuss the intricacies of research and how to create evocative characterizations of historical figures.&nbsp\;
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:ee070634aeb3dc6fc9475074eca7238a
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/ee070634aeb3dc6fc9475074eca7238a
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T173000Z
DTEND:20260523T183000Z
SUMMARY:Generative Poetry Session with Tiana Clark
DESCRIPTION:Tiana Clark is the author of the poetry collections Scorched Earth\; I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood\, which won the 2017 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize\; and Equilibrium\,&nbsp\;which won the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Competition. Clark’s other honors include a Pushcart Prize\, a Kate Tufts Discovery Award\, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Tennessee State University\, where she studied Africana and women’s studies. She is the Grace Hazard Conkling Writer-in-Residence at Smith College. Find out more at TianaClark.com.\n&nbsp\;\n\n
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:0213672ee2d64d31e3accfef96ebcbd2
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/0213672ee2d64d31e3accfef96ebcbd2
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T193000Z
DTEND:20260523T203000Z
SUMMARY:Terry Tempest Williams with Ben Goldfarb
DESCRIPTION:Known for her seminal work\, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place\, Williams has long been an advocate for wild spaces and wildlife. This visit to Mountain Words heralds the arrival of her newest book\, The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary.&nbsp\;Williams is joined by festival favorite and science journalist\, Ben Goldfarb\, known for his books Eager: The Surprising\, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter and Crossings: How Road Ecology Has Shaped Our Planet. \n\nDue to Terry's limited time\, there will not be a signing line for her appearance. For those interested in a signed copy of Williams' work\, Townie Books will have freshly signed copies of her work. If you have already purchased The Glorians from Townie Books and would like it signed\, please drop it off at the bookstore tables at the Center no later than 6pm on Friday. The bookstore will be unable to accommodate signing of previous books that were not purchased recently from Townie Books.
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:cde5a160232b3a4bb8a529f81e6ee687
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/cde5a160232b3a4bb8a529f81e6ee687
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T204500Z
DTEND:20260523T214500Z
SUMMARY:Book Signing in the Atrium #1
DESCRIPTION:Join a festive and lively gathering of book signing with this year's authors!\n\nDan McClellan\nBenjamin Percy\nClaire Boyles \nWendy Videlock\nRajiv Mohabir\nTerri Lewis\nMichael Hettich\nNina McConigley\nMegan Kate Nelson\nKaren Terrey\nPhil Coleman \nRakesh&nbsp\;Satyal\nAlia Hanna Habib\nMegha Majumdar\n Erica Reid
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Grace Atrium\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:9111b18b2be063734b80d65333246be3
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/9111b18b2be063734b80d65333246be3
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T204500Z
DTEND:20260523T214500Z
SUMMARY:Terry Tempest in Convo with Nina McConigley on Art and Life
DESCRIPTION:For passholders\, this is a very intimate conversation between Terry Tempest Williams and Nina McConigley about her life in art and words in the natural world
CATEGORIES:CREATIVITY
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:d0a036c87f2a321388463c70d68b1e66
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/d0a036c87f2a321388463c70d68b1e66
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T204500Z
DTEND:20260523T214500Z
SUMMARY:In-Conversation Hillary Rosner and Ben Goldfarb
DESCRIPTION:Science journalist and editor Hillary Rosner discusses her new book\, ROAM with Mountain Words regular Ben Goldfarb.\n\nRosner is an award-winning science journalist who has reported on environmental issues from around the world for National Geographic\, The New York Times\, The Atlantic\, Scientific American\, Wired\, Audubon\, and many others. She specializes in telling complex\, science-driven stories in ways that resonate deeply with general audiences.
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:0ebea0ca8eed50a87252eae70dc5bb6b
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/0ebea0ca8eed50a87252eae70dc5bb6b
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T204500Z
DTEND:20260523T214500Z
SUMMARY:It’s a Partnership: The Author/Editor Relationship
DESCRIPTION:Authors Cosmo Langsfeld and Dane Bahr read from their newest works and discuss with their editor the collaborative nature of the relationship from working the words to navigating the production and publication process.\n\nHarry Kirchner is a Contributing Editor at Counterpoint Press. His interests include literary fiction\,narrative nonfiction\, mystery\, memoir\, and natural history.Born and raised in NJ\, Harry received a BA at Rutgers University and MA in English Lit at the Universityof Wis\, Milwaukee. Upon completion of graduate school\, he moved to Washington and into a career inpublishing. After 30 years as a sales representative and National Accounts Manager for PGW and IPS\,Harry made the move into the editorial side of the business. He and his wife Anne currently reside inEdmonds\, WA.Among the authors he’s worked with are Peter Rock (Spells and the forthcoming Makeshift)\, TereseMailhot (Heart Berries)\, Kirk Walsh (The Elephant of Belfast)\, Thomas Kohnstamm (Lake City andSupersonic)\, Sash Lapointe (Red Paint and Thunder Song)\, Dennis E. Staples {This Town Sleeps andPassing Through a Prairie Country)\, Kristine Ervin (A Rabbit Heart)\, Ryan Burruss (American Crow10/2026 release)\, Cosmo Langsfeld (Salvation) and Dane Bahr (Houseboat\, Stag and The Dead Ringer).
CATEGORIES:PUBLISHING
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:594e4d08d1cad897baa0fa9e723a39a0
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/594e4d08d1cad897baa0fa9e723a39a0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T220000Z
DTEND:20260523T230000Z
SUMMARY:Book Signing in the Atrium #2
DESCRIPTION:Join a festive and lively gathering of authors at this year's book signing!!!\n\nDavid Baron&nbsp\;\nRiver Selby\nDane Bahr\nCosmo Langsfeld\nSteven DunnLaura Krantz \nBen Goldfarb \nGarrett PeckHillary Rosner Shelley Read Suzi Q. SmithRamona Ausubel
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Grace Atrium\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:5597c0e9dcb61d5750b251494e5ea679
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/5597c0e9dcb61d5750b251494e5ea679
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T220000Z
DTEND:20260523T230000Z
SUMMARY:Benjamin Percy Fiction THRILL ME
DESCRIPTION:Join acclaimed author Benjamin Percy to learn how contemporary writers engage plot\, character\, dialogue\, and suspense. Percy's book\, Thrill Me\, is an urgent and entertaining book on craft that brims with Percy's distinctive blend of anecdotes and advice\, all in the service of one dictum: thrill the reader.
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:932e3a8732a3d982d6abaef4cc1bf7f1
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/932e3a8732a3d982d6abaef4cc1bf7f1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T220000Z
DTEND:20260523T230000Z
SUMMARY:Poet Tiana Clark in Conversation with Rajiv Mohabir
DESCRIPTION:Tiana Clark is the author of the poetry collections Scorched Earth (Washington Square Press/Simon & Schuster\, 2025)\, which was named a finalist for the 2025 National Book Awards\, and I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood (University of Pittsburgh Press\, 2018)\, which won the 2017 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. She also wrote the chapbook Equilibrium (Bull City Press\, 2016)\, selected by Afaa Michael Weaver for the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Competition. Clark is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships\, including the 2020 Kate Tufts Discovery Award\, a 2019 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship\, the 2021-2022 Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship\, and a 2019 Pushcart Prize. She was the 2017-2018 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing. She has received scholarships and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference\, Sewanee Writers' Conference\, and Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Clark is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (M.F.A) and Tennessee State University (B.A.) where she studied Africana and Women's studies. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker\, The New York Times\, Poetry Magazine\, The Atlantic\, The Washington Post\, Virginia Quarterly Review\, Tin House Online\, Kenyon Review\, BuzzFeed News\, American Poetry Review\, Oxford American\, The Best American Poetry 2022\, and elsewhere. She is the Grace Hazard Conkling Writer-in-Residence at Smith College.Clark is currently working on a memoir-in-essays\, reckoning with Black burnout\, millennial divorce\, faith\, art making\, and exploring historical and contemporary methods of Black survival\, which sold to Jenny Xu at Washington Square Press/Simon & Schuster. &nbsp\;\n\nRajiv Mohabir was born in London\, England to Guyanese parents. He grew up in New York City and in the Greater Orlando Area in Florida. &nbsp\;\nSelected by Brenda Shaughnessy for the 2014 Intro Prize in Poetry by Four Way Books for his The Taxidermistʻs Cut (Four Way Books 2016)\, Rajiv Mohabir's first collection is a finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry. His second book The Cowherd’s Son won the 2015 Kundiman Prize (Tupelo Press in May 2017). In 2021 Mohabir’s poetry collection Cutlish (Four Way Books\, 2021) was longlisted for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry\, received a silver medal from the Northern California Publishers and Authors\, was a “must read book” from the Mass Book Awards from the Massachusetts Center for the Book\, a finalist for the New England Book Awards\, received the Eric Hoffer Medal Provacateur\, was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award\, and was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award. Cutlish also received second place in the Guyana Prize for Literature in 2022. His fourth collection\, Whale Aria (Four Way Books 2023) received the Gold Medal for Poetry from the Forward Indies\, the Bronze Medal from the Northern California Publishers and Authors\, and was a finalist and received and Honorable Mention from the Eric Hoffer Award. His fifth collection Seabeast (Four Way Books 2025) continues the exploration of race\, migration\, and sea mammal biology and natural history. \n\n\n
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:9fbb1eff87610e6ee808368706f30444
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/9fbb1eff87610e6ee808368706f30444
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260523T220000Z
DTEND:20260523T230000Z
SUMMARY:Publishing Panel Discussion with Karen Terrey\, Terri Lewis\, Dane Bahr\, Phil Coleman
DESCRIPTION:Writing and publishing is a world in constant flux. Join this panel of authors for a discussion about publishing alternatives and what a writing career looks like in 2026.
CATEGORIES:PUBLISHING
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e80148fe8f6fdfb78666d852d536445c
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/e80148fe8f6fdfb78666d852d536445c
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T030000Z
DTEND:20260524T034500Z
SUMMARY:Stargazing with Garrett Peck
DESCRIPTION:After sunset\, the stars come out at Crested Butte in all their wonder. The town is an excellent place for stargazing\, as it is far removed from city lights to see the Milky Way. The Mountain Words Festival will host stargazing on the park space near the Center for the Arts on Saturday\, May 23 at 9pm. We’ll meet outside the arts center\, then walk to the stargazing spot. Your host is festival participant Garrett Peck\, author of The Bright Edges of the World: Willa Cather and Her Archbishop\, who regularly teaches stargazing in Santa Fe.\n \nParticipants are encouraged to download a stargazing app on their phone (Garrett uses SkyView\, which has a free lite version\, and a paid version with more features)\, which can help identify constellations\, planets\, and other interstellar objects on their smartphones. Guests should also shift their phones in advance to dark mode so as to eliminate white light that can disrupt the class.\n\n Please note the cool to cold evening weather and come prepared with jackets\, layers\, blankets\, and a chair if you can.&nbsp\;
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:OUTDOOR (Near Center for the Arts)\, Center for the Arts 
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4cfbf11816abba04a87cf85c13dd3d21
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/4cfbf11816abba04a87cf85c13dd3d21
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T150000Z
DTEND:20260524T160000Z
SUMMARY:Novel Conversation- Skylark with Paula McLain and Shelley Read
DESCRIPTION:Acclaimed author of the books The Paris Wife\, Circling the Sun\, and Love and Ruin\, Paula McLain sits down with Colorado author Shelley Read to discuss her newest novel\, Skylark.&nbsp\;\n\nThe New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife weaves a mesmerizing tale of Paris above and below—where a woman’s quest for artistic freedom in 1664 intertwines with a doctor’s dangerous mission during the German occupation in the 1940s\, revealing a story of courage and resistance that transcends time.\n\n1664: Alouette Voland is the daughter of a master dyer at the famed Gobelin Tapestry Works\, who secretly dreams of escaping her circumstances and creating her own masterpiece. When her father is unjustly imprisoned\, Alouette’s efforts to save him lead to her own confinement in the notorious Salpêtrière asylum\, where thousands of women are held captive and cruelly treated. But within its grim walls\, she discovers a small group of brave allies\, and the possibility of a life bigger than she ever imagined.\n1939: Kristof Larson is a medical student beginning his psychiatric residency in Paris\, whose neighbors on the Rue de Gobelins are a Jewish family who have fled Poland. When Nazi forces descend on the city\, Kristof becomes their only hope for survival\, even as his work as a doctor is jeopardized.\nA spellbinding and transportive look at a side of Paris known to very few—the underground city that is a mirror reflection of the glories above—Paula McLain’s unforgettable new novel chronicles two parallel journeys of defiance and rescue that connect in ways both surprising and deeply moving.\n\n
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:36ed75e783ba89a7b7f120fb2c0d5e92
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/36ed75e783ba89a7b7f120fb2c0d5e92
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T150000Z
DTEND:20260524T160000Z
SUMMARY:Map Your Memoir Part 1 - Orientation
DESCRIPTION:Take your Pantsing and Planning to the next level and become a Mapper instead. In this two-part seminar\, writing coaches Doug Kurtz and Dan Manzanares will introduce you to the Story Map\, their breakthrough tool that helps memoirists of all stripes and skill levels unlock the potential of their books. Part 1\, Orientation\, is an introduction to the Story Map and how to use it\, followed by an open Q&A session. Part 2\, Implementation\, is a hands-on workshop in which participants will explore the holistic landscape of Story that underlies craft and begin the Story Mapping process. Memoirists at any stage of the writing process are welcome. \n
CATEGORIES:MEMOIR
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:f21d4ebe01ef95f0a5b4806be3d8244e
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/f21d4ebe01ef95f0a5b4806be3d8244e
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T150000Z
DTEND:20260524T160000Z
SUMMARY:Poetry with Suzi Q Smith
DESCRIPTION:Join Denver based poet\, writer\, storyteller\, organizer\, and activist\, Suzi Q. Smith for a poetry workshop to remember.
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:5d5e6e34ca5fa79331b7b80a68b62a8e
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/5d5e6e34ca5fa79331b7b80a68b62a8e
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T161500Z
DTEND:20260524T171500Z
SUMMARY:The Bible Says So with Dan McClellan and Ian Wrisley with special Music Performance
DESCRIPTION:Bible scholar and popular TikToker Dan McClellan confronts misconceptions about the Bible.The Bible is the world’s most influential book\, but do we really know what it says? Every day across social media and in homes\, businesses\, and public spaces\, people try to cut debate short by claiming that "the Bible says so!" However\, they commonly disagree about what it actually does and doesn't say\, particularly when it comes to socially significant issues. For instance\, does the Bible say we should be on the lookout for an antichrist associated with the number 666? Does it say women shouldn’t wear revealing clothing? Does it say it’s okay to hit your kids?In The Bible Says So\, Dan McClellan leverages his popular "data over dogma" approach\, and his years of experience in the academy and on social media\, to lay out in clear and accessible ways what the data indicate the Bible does and doesn't say about issues ranging from homosexuality\, abortion\, and slavery to monotheism\, inspiration\, and even God's wife. Smart\, accessible\, and informative\,&nbsp\;The Bible Says So is an invaluable resource for our fractious times. \n\nDan McClellan is an award-winning public scholar of the Bible. He has over one million followers on social media\, and tens of thousands more tune in to his online classes and his Data Over Dogma Podcast. Dan received his PhD from the University of Exeter. He worked previously as a scripture translation supervisor for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is currently an honorary fellow at Birmingham University's Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion.\n\nJoin Dan and Gunnison Congregational Church Pastor\, Ian Wrisley as they discuss The Bible Says So.&nbsp\;&nbsp\;
CATEGORIES:COMMUNITY EVENT
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:3263de94189d2377a441b2f62218d5dd
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/3263de94189d2377a441b2f62218d5dd
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T161500Z
DTEND:20260524T171500Z
SUMMARY:Building a Sustainable Writing and Editing Group
DESCRIPTION:I have two writing degrees and have taken tons of other writing workshops\, but for the last twelve years\, our weekly writing group has been the absolute best thing for my writing career/life. Inspired by the Soulquarians music collective and Gail McGuire and Jo Reger’s ideas of Feminist Co-Mentoring\, we’ll discuss a possible model for a writing group that centers collaboration\, longevity\, and care for individuals. &nbsp\;
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:ece7182c2e09add61e56401c270c0c4b
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/ece7182c2e09add61e56401c270c0c4b
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T161500Z
DTEND:20260524T170000Z
SUMMARY:Novel Conversation-How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder with Nina McConigley and Megha Majumdar
DESCRIPTION:Nina McConigley\, the West's brightest literary star will share her new novel\, How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder. Join her and award winning writer\, Megha Majumdar in this lively discussion of McConigley's work.&nbsp\; \n\nNOTE: This will be a shorter session without q&a. Nina will be available for questions at the Townie Books signing table afterwards.&nbsp\;\n\nHow to Commit a Postcolonial Murder&nbsp\;is the author’s dark debut novel about two Indian-American sisters growing up in rural Wyoming in the 1980s.-NPR\,&nbsp\;'How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder' is a dark new novel about sisterhood.&nbsp\;\n\nhttps://www.npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-5698541/nprs-book-of-the-day-nina-mcconigley-how-to-commit-a-postcolonial-murder
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:dc8bf705b94fb433a48008f216d1bf56
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/dc8bf705b94fb433a48008f216d1bf56
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T161500Z
DTEND:20260524T171500Z
SUMMARY:Map Your Memoir Part 2 - Implementation
DESCRIPTION:Take your Pantsing and Planning to the next level and become a Mapper instead. In this two-part seminar\, writing coaches Doug Kurtz and Dan Manzanares will introduce you to the Story Map\, their breakthrough tool that helps memoirists of all stripes and skill levels unlock the potential of their books. Part 1\, Orientation\, is an introduction to the Story Map and how to use it\, followed by an open Q&A session. Part 2\, Implementation\, is a hands-on workshop in which participants will explore the holistic landscape of Story that underlies craft and begin the Story Mapping process. Memoirists at any stage of the writing process are welcome.\n \n
CATEGORIES:MEMOIR
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:05e559f9ad558a5544d609e12138ec9e
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/05e559f9ad558a5544d609e12138ec9e
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T161500Z
DTEND:20260524T171500Z
SUMMARY:Four Poets Read
DESCRIPTION:Four poets of at the height of their prowess with the written word come together to share their voices with the community. Join Karen Terrey\, Suzi Q Smith\, Erica Reid\, and Wendy Videlock as they each read a selection of poems that celebrate the written and spoken word.&nbsp\;
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Grace Atrium\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:0a5472d5b905717017701cf02511bb0c
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/0a5472d5b905717017701cf02511bb0c
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T173000Z
DTEND:20260524T183000Z
SUMMARY:Ramona Ausubel UNSTUCK! A Writer's Guide
DESCRIPTION:Unstuck: 101 Doorways Leading from the Blank Page to the Last Page&nbsp\;is about staying in love with your writing: feeling excited\, mischievous\, productive\, and hopeful—the opposite of being stuck.Critically acclaimed\, award-winning author and beloved teacher Ramona Ausubel offers 101 exercises that promise to welcome you back to the page again and again\; to reinvigorate your process and help you see your writing through to the end. Full of personal stories and hard-earned wisdom of a veteran writer\, Unstuck is written in the first person\, human to human\, writer to writer. Practical\, clear\, and welcoming\, Unstuck offers immediately useable strategies for beginning\, continuing\, and finishing a piece of writing.Organized into doorways and keys\, Unstuck turns problems into possibilities\, offers keys to put into use right now\, all designed to lead the writer back to the art\, not toward an outside idea or formula. With Ausubel’s steady\, encouraging advice—find your doorway\, unlock the lock\, and get writing again. \n\n\nRamona 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 and No One is Here Except All of Us. She is the recipient of the PEN/USA Fiction Award\, the Cabell First Novelist Award and has been a finalist for both the California and Colorado Book Awards and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Her work has been published in The New Yorker\, The New York Times\, The Paris Review daily\, One Story\, Tin House\, The Oxford American\, Ploughshares and elsewhere. She is a professor at Colorado State University and lives in Boulder with her family
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:f5a0a9cb45e5d93d719edfc88e8d56a0
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/f5a0a9cb45e5d93d719edfc88e8d56a0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T173000Z
DTEND:20260524T183000Z
SUMMARY:Poetry with Erica Reid: Plains Poems & Prairie Tarot
DESCRIPTION:Poet Erica Reid returns to Mountain Words with another excellent generative poetry workshop.\n\nClass begins with an exploration of prairie poems old and new\, from poets including Emily Dickinson\, Heid E. Erdrich\, and Camille Dungy. Afterwards we will generate plains-flavored poems of our own\, aided by a prairie-specific divination deck that includes thistle for patience\, hawks for insight\, fire for change\, and more. \n\n
CATEGORIES:POETRY
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:fe4e97d109d6547f1df01f4c82850a7c
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/fe4e97d109d6547f1df01f4c82850a7c
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T174500Z
DTEND:20260524T184500Z
SUMMARY:River Selby in Conversation with Laura Krantz HOTSHOT: A Life On Fire
DESCRIPTION:From 2000 to 2010\, River Selby was a wildland firefighter whose given name was Anastasia. This is a memoir of that time in their life—of Ana\, the struggles she encountered\, and the constraints of what it means to be female-bodied in a male-dominated industry. An illuminating debut from a fierce new voice\, Hotshot is a timely reckoning with both the personal and environmental dangers of wildland firefighting.\nBy the time they were nineteen\, Selby had been homeless\, addicted to drugs\, and sexually assaulted more than once. In a last-ditch effort to find direction\, they applied to be a wildland firefighter. Two years later\, they joined an elite class of specially trained wildland firefighters known as hotshots. Over the course of five fire seasons\, Selby delves into the world of the people—almost entirely men—who risk their lives to fight and sometimes prevent wildfires. Simultaneously hyper visible and invisible\, Selby navigated an odd mix of camaraderie and rampant sexism on the job and\, when they challenged it\, a violent closing of ranks that excluded them from the work they’d come to love.\nDrawing on years of firsthand experience on the frontlines of fire and years of research\, Selby examines how the collision of fire suppression policy\, colonization\, and climate change has led to fire seasons of unprecedented duration and severity. A work of rare intimacy\, Hotshot provides new insight into fire\, the people who fight it\, and the diversity of ecosystems dependent on this elemental force.\n\n
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:adff7567c879f0cede0774ddb7b78441
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/adff7567c879f0cede0774ddb7b78441
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T193000Z
DTEND:20260524T203000Z
SUMMARY:Fiction workshop with Nina McConigley
DESCRIPTION:Fiction workshop with Nina McConigley
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:King Room\, 606 Sixth St. Crested Butte\, CO 81224
SEQUENCE:0
UID:76b61d88439ee270284431f178a1beff
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/76b61d88439ee270284431f178a1beff
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T193000Z
DTEND:20260524T203000Z
SUMMARY:On Fire for God: Fear\, Shame\, Poverty\, and the Making of the Christian Right – a Personal History with Josiah Hesse and Ian Wrisley
DESCRIPTION:\nOne part Educated\, one part rebuttal to Hillbilly Elegy\, On Fire for God explores the ways evangelical Christianity has preyed upon its followers while galvanizing them into the political force known today as the Christian right.\n“Of all the books I’ve read about young people devastated by the fundamentalist religion they’ve grown up with\, this one stands out.”­— Frances FitzGerald\, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Evangelicals\n\nExvangelical journalist Josiah Hesse grew up in the stifling working-class town of Mason City\, Iowa\, raised in the institutions of fundamentalist Christianity: a toxic mixture of schools\, ministries\, and religious camps that taught creationism\, instilled sexual shame\, and foretold horrific tales of the rapture. In the churches where he worshipped\, pastors siphoned their flocks’ wealth while preaching a doctrine of prosperity. Meanwhile\, as economic struggles grew in the community\, Hesse’s fellow believers lambasted organized labor and shunned the social safety net\, becoming an army for God against the evils of progressivism. Only upon escaping Iowa in search of something more would he consider the possibility that the world wasn’t about to end and that he was woefully unprepared for a future he’d never believed would arrive.\n\nWritten in vivid prose\, On Fire for God is both an unflinching memoir of religious trauma and survival and a stirring examination of the emotional\, political\, and sociological effects of the Christian right. Returning to his hometown in search of answers about his upbringing and the political forces at work in the region\, Hesse calls into question prevailing theories about the disappearing working class that point to opioids\, automation\, or globalism as the culprits. His story of awakening and escape exposes how conservative Christian con men have\, over generations\, trapped working-class believers in an isolated bubble of racism\, xenophobia\, and self-imposed martyrdom\, while stripping communities like his of their wealth and self-esteem. In On Fire for God\, Hesse plumbs the depths of his own experience to illuminate\, with deep feeling and piercing immediacy\, what he describes as the socioeconomic tragedy of the American working class
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Steddy Theater\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:88a445be9ac27550aa85a873b7b340b6
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/88a445be9ac27550aa85a873b7b340b6
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T193000Z
DTEND:20260524T203000Z
SUMMARY:What Kind of Essay Are You? With River Selby
DESCRIPTION:What Kind of Essay Are You?\n\nThe essay is a dynamic and flexible structure\, capable of doing anything the writer wishes...but figuring out what one wants the essay to do can be quite difficult! In this workshop\, we'll look at a few innovative essay moments and discuss how to approach the essay as an extension of the self\, extending a question into the world and diving into the mystery. This is not a class about formulas or cookie-cutter methods of writing\, rather an exploration of the self and how one can translate their obsessions into an essayistic form.
CATEGORIES:NONFICTION
LOCATION:Hawk Studio\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:c2ae567bc6ff8d1f3b273d12e4b4bbc8
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/c2ae567bc6ff8d1f3b273d12e4b4bbc8
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260531T042943Z
DTSTART:20260524T204500Z
DTEND:20260524T214500Z
SUMMARY:Fiction with Shelley Read
DESCRIPTION:\n
CATEGORIES:FICTION
LOCATION:Jones Performance Hall\, 606 Sixth St\, Crested Butte\, CO 81224\, USA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:1a685680a708e903a65299dea273a9e9
URL:http://mtnwords26.sched.com/event/1a685680a708e903a65299dea273a9e9
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR