Mountain Words Festival 2026

Megha Majumdar discusses her newest praiseworthy novel, A Guardian and a Theif with debut novelist Nina McConigley

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. 

The 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.

1664: 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.
1939: 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.
A 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.

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. 

NOTE: This will be a shorter session without q&a. Nina will be available for questions at the Townie Books signing table afterwards. 

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder is the author’s dark debut novel about two Indian-American sisters growing up in rural Wyoming in the 1980s.-NPR, 'How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder' is a dark new novel about sisterhood. 

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-5698541/nprs-book-of-the-day-nina-mcconigley-how-to-commit-a-postcolonial-murder