Western Book Roundup

It’s Summer Literary Festival Season in the West

By Jenny Shank, 6-03-09

Last week I reviewed Ron Carlson’s fine new novel, The Signal.  (Check back for my interview with Carlson soon.) I came across a different perspective on the novel on the blog Three Guys One Book, in which a group of writing and publishing professionals discuss books. Dennis Haritou, a book buyer for Barnes and Noble who describes himself as “a city slicker,” reviewed The Signal.  He sympathized with Mack, the solitary protagonist, writing: “I know how he feels. I’m not much of a people person myself. But if I want to be alone, there is no better place to be than Fifth Avenue.”

Despite Haritou’s lack of outdoorsy skills, he seems to have enjoyed the book: “You can get a grip on the rocks, the lakes, the fish, the elk, in every chapter of The Signal. Also, a fine sense of why people would want to camp.” (Emphasis mine.)

A rather anthropological way of looking at a man engaging in a typical Western activity.  Lucky for those of us who already understand why people would want to camp, camping season has begun here in the West, as has the regular lineup of summer literary events.

This year Boulder Chautauqua is sponsoring a mystery writer author series.  Michael Connelly kicks things off with a reading and discussion on Saturday, June 6 that will serve as a fundraiser for Chautauqua ($30-$35, 2 p.m.).  How did they convince the Florida-based Connelly to come for the event?  His sister Susan Connelly happens to be the Executive Director of Colorado Chautauqua.  The other two authors in the series are Colorado mystery writers Margaret Coel (June 29, 7 p.m., $5-$8) and Diane Mott Davidson (July 27, 7 p.m., $5-$8).  All events are in the Chautauqua Community House.

The Aspen Summer Words Festival will be held from June 21 through 26.  This year’s theme is “World of Words,” with readings by Dana Gioia, Shashi Tharoor, Colum McCann, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ishmael Beah, Mohammed Salmawy, Binyanvanga Wainaina, Ron Carlson, Pamela Painter, William Loizeaux, Christopher Merrill, Nic Pizzolatto, and Gary Ferguson. There’s lots of other stuff going on--workshops and meetings with agents and editors.  The website is Aspen-spangly but rather inscrutable.  I suggest downloading the brochure for the scoop.  Speaking of Ron Carlson, he’ll receive the 2009 Aspen Prize for Literature this year. (The events will be held at the Doerr-Hosier Center at the Aspen Meadow.)

The Taos Summer Writers’ Conference will be held July 12-17, with faculty including Robert Boswell, Pam Houston, Antonya Nelson, and Jonis Agee.  It looks like most of the workshops have filled, but there are still a handful of slots left.

The annual Naropa Summer Writing Program in Boulder is from June 15 through July 12 this year.  They’ll be studying some intense stuff that I don’t think I’d probably be able to understand--for example, the theme of of week three is “Polyvalent/Rhizomic Identities.”

Last week I mentioned the Denver Lighthouse Writers LitFest, which starts Friday and features seminars by many writers we’ve interviewed and reviewed on New West.

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