Nina McConigley writes about bookfest for New West

Nina S. McConigley writes about Casper's 2010 Equality State Book Festival in the 10/20 New West. Read the entire article at http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/equality_state_book_fair_celebrates_regional_writers_in_wyoming/C39/L39/

Nina now teaches at UW in Laramie. She's the winner of a 2010 Blanchan/Doubleday writing award from the Wyoming Arts Council.

Author Diana Kouris earns laurels for her High Plains Press book

This comes from Nancy Curtis at High Plains Press in Glendo: Diana Kouris (left), author of Riding the Edge of an Era, has been doing High Plains Press proud. She was a finalist for both the Zonta Best Woman Writer Award at the Billings Book Festival and the Willa Award which was presented in Wickenburg, Arizona. Diana and I went to both events and had a great time. My friend and former co-editor Linda Hasselstrom (right) traveled with us and came home with the top award at both events. Here we are.

Remembering the 2010 Equality State Book Festival

Lee Gutkind, author and founder of Creative Nonfiction magazine, reads from his work during the WAC creative writing fellowship reading Sept. 24 at the 2010 Equality State Book Festival in Casper. Gutkind served as judge for the fellowships. The reading, held in the Goodstein Foundation Library at Casper College, included fellowships winners Pam Galbreath, Joel Burdess and Jayme Feary and 2010 Blanchan/Doubleday award winner Nina McConigley. Photo: Jane Young

Mammoth good time had by all at book festival

Saturday began with Australian Aboriginal creation stories, and then moved to Hawaiian shark mythology. In the afternoon, Wyoming's 11,000-year-old mammoth was stomping through the Tate Geological Museum and prehistoric armored Hell Pigs were hot on my imaginary trail.

Wish all Saturdays could be as exciting.

But that was bookfest Saturday in Casper. The Casper College/ARTCORE Equality State Book Festival is an extravaganza of books and writers and myths and legends and poetry and fun.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I've been on the bookfest planning committee since its inception six years ago. This makes me slightly biased, yet still wildly enthusiastic.

More than 20 writers in two days. You can find a full list at the bookfest web site. You may recognize names of the Wyoming writers: Poet Laureate and musician David Romtvedt, writer and "grasshopper guy" Jeff Lockwood, Gene "The Teacher Who Dances on Desks" Gagliano, the didjeridoo-playing storyteller Paul Taylor, Nina Swamidoss "Cowboys and East Asians" McConigley, children's author and illustrator Zak Pullen, and Tom "Mr. Carnegie's Dinosaur" Rea.

Other presenters included authors, poets and book illustrators from Idaho, New York, Alaska, Belgium, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and other exotic places.

John Vernon is an historical novelist from New York who justy spent years exploring a topic that's maybe even more mythic than dinosaurs -- Billy the Kid. Vernon's latest is "Lucky Billy." He read some passages Friday evening and then talked about research on Saturday.

While he agrees with the old saw "write what you know," Vernon likes to add this: "know more." That's where research comes in. He usually starts each book with a trip to the setting. In "The Last Canyon," that was the Green River in Wyoming. For "Lucky Billy," he traveled to Lincoln, N.M., which hasn't changed much in the past 120 years. He then explores the "material culture" of the period. He had to learn volumes about firearms of the 1880s. He read a two-page section heavy with gun lore. He had to be careful not to be a "show off" with all this newfound knowledge.

"You should be subtle with your research," he said. "It should be delivered in passing."

Because his books are heavy on dialogue, Vernon researches slang of the era. Old newspapers, letters and diaries and books are great for this.

"You're building a scaffolding of facts," he said. "But in the end, nothing is possible in a novel without imagination."

And no book festival is possible without imagination. Scaffolding, too.

--Michael Shay

WAC roster artists presenting sessions at bookfest

We are please that four members of the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster will be presenters at the Sept. 24-25 Equality State Book Festival in Casper. They are children's book author Gene Gagliano of Buffalo; Aussie storyteller Paul Taylor of Laramie; Wyoming Poet Laureate David Romtvedt of Buffalo; and poet George Vlastos of Casper.

David Romtvedt will present two crafts talks: “What Do You Make?: The Ethics of a Writer’s Work,” from 9-9:45 a.m. on Friday in the Strausner Student Center, Rm. 217, Casper College. Followed from 10-10:45 a.m. by “What You Say and How You Say It: Clarity, Simplicity, Sincerity.” Strausner Student Center, Rm. 217.

From 9-11 p.m. Friday, George Vlastos will serve as emcee and referee at the Bookfest Poetry Slam at Metro Coffee in downtown Casper.

On Saturday, 9-9:45 a..m., Paul Taylor will present "Telling Stories at the Root of It All" in the Aley Fine Arts Center Durham Hall, Casper College.

Later on Saturday, 1-3 p.m., there will be a "Young Authors/Letters About Literature Presentation" with Gene Gagliano at the Natrona County Public Library's Crawford Room.

All of these events are free and open to the public.

These authors will attend the book signings both days and will be available to talk about their work during the festival.

For full list of events, go to http://www.equalitystatebookfest.com/index.php/events/

Tonight at Casper College: "Happily Ever-Aftering on a 1920s Cattle Ranch"

The Equality State Book Festival is holding a "pre-fest" event tonight (Monday), Sept. 20, 7-9 p.m., with a presentation by Montana author John Clayton. He will speak about "Happily Ever-Aftering on a 1920s Cattle Ranch" in the Goodstein Foundation Library Lobby at Casper College.

John’s reading is brought to you by the Casper College Gender Studies program and a Wyoming Humanities Council grant. In his presentation, "Happily Ever-Aftering on a 1920s Cattle Ranch", John will discuss the story of Caroline Lockhart. A best-selling Wyoming novelist of the times, Carolyn decided to retire to her very own homestead, setting in motion a conflict: The happy endings of her romantic fictions and the realities of a single woman running a drought-ridden ranch.

The event is free and open to the public.

The book festival kicks off in earnest on Friday, Sept. 24, 8 a.m. See the web site for more info

As a landmark is destroyed, we remember the short but lively history of book festivals in Wyoming

Smoke is in the morning air. Residue from the fire that destroyed the Hitching Post Inn, a Cheyenne landmark.

The Hitch was the site for the first Wyoming Bookfest on Oct. 26-27, 2001. We remember that fall for the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the anthrax attacks on Congress. Then came the invasion of Afghanistan by U.S. forces. Smoke was in the air everywhere that year.

Meanwhile, in Cheyenne, a handful of writers and booklovers were organizing what we hoped would become an annual tradition.

If I remember correctly (and I don’t always) the idea started with a meeting of local writers Chip Carlson and Larry Brown with Gene Bryan, who then was in charge of events at the Best Western Hitching Post Inn Resort and Conference Center, a.k.a. “The Hitch.” That’s pretty much what everyone called it, then and now.

The three co-conspirators thought a bookfest was just the thing for Cheyenne. Unlike its surrounding states, Wyoming had yet to have a statewide book festival. It would benefit writers, booksellers and The Hitch.

Linn Rounds, then head of the Wyoming Center for the Book, was pulled into the committee. So was I from the Wyoming Arts Council. Kathy Murphy, secretary to Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources Director John Keck, volunteered to keep track of all the proceedings. She did a great job, Kathy, alas, died a few years later. In the end, we had a great collection of people, including Kathleen Gillgannon of the YMCA Writer’s Voice, and reps from the Laramie County Public Library and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

Warning for anyone planning a book festival – it’s a lot of work. Forty-two poets, writers, editors, storytellers, musicians and at least one wood sculptor participated in the Oct. 26-27 event. That doesn’t include booksellers and presses featured at the book fair. Committee members were running around like crazy people, getting people to the correct rooms and finding more chairs when needed.

It got off to a heady start with a Friday evening reading by four poets laureate: Robert Roripaugh of Wyoming, Mary Crow of Colorado, David Lee from Utah and Bill Kloefkorn of Nebraska. The crowd was SRO, and it was a real thrill to have four great poets reading their work at one event. Just think of how many square miles are represented by these people from four big almost-square states (Nebraska's more of a weird rectangle).

David Lee was fresh from his appearance at the first National Book Festival on the National Mall in D.C. That event was organized by the Library of Congress and First Lady Laura Bush.

We also had a guest speaker that evening in U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi. Sen. Enzi and his staff no longer had access to their offices in D.C. due to the anthrax attacks. So he brought a batch of staffers with him to Cheyenne. He spoke about the recent happenings in the capital, but then launched into one of his favorite subjects – books. He’s a big reader – I’ve watched him buy bags full of books from appreciative Wyoming writers.

Sen. Enzi also was in town for a very somber event. This was the funeral of one of the first American soldiers killed in Afghanistan. U.S. Army Spec. Jonn Edmunds of Cheyenne was on a helicopter ferrying troops to the war zone when it crashed Oct. 19 in Pakistan. All aboard were killed.

Thousands attended the Saturday funeral. We had hoped for thousands that day at the bookfest, but fell a bit short. It wasn’t for lack of trying. We had fantastic sessions on writing cookbooks, westerns, mysteries and poetry in rooms scattered throughout The Hitch. We had some of the best anthology editors in Wyoming – Nancy Curtis, Candy Moulton and Bill Hoagland -- talking about “Editing Western Anthologies.” Local writer C.J. Box, who’s now published more than a dozen mysteries and won the prestigious Edgar Award, talked about “Whodunits on the High Plains.” I was on a panel with writers Teresa Funke and Jeffe Kennedy talking about “Starting (and Maintaining) Your Writing Critique Group.” My group is still intact, as is Teresa’s. Jeffe’s group in Laramie is defunct – and she now lives in Santa Fe.

On the Children’s Stage in the now-destroyed Saddleback Lounge, my son and his pals at East High staged an open mike. It also saw performances by Aussie storyteller Paul Taylor and the Cheyenne Youth Symphony.

We were exhausted by the end of the day. In the ensuing weeks, we went over all the evaluations. Most negative comments were about lack of attendance and lack of book sales. Lots of people had lots of ideas about how to make it better. More publicity. More big-name authors. Bigger book fair. Get more people to do the work. Involve more local organizations and business.

Here’s one comment I liked: “A number of authors travel a great distance to attend — at last give them a sandwich for lunch.”

You want mayo or mustard with that?

Here’s a great comment from C.J. Box: “The bookfest shouldn’t be all things to all people… While musical performances and wood art may bring in some folks, the bookfest should be about books and authors.”

A few months after the bookfest, the committee met for a brainstorming session. We stormed our brains out. We all wanted to have another bookfest, but there wasn’t enough interest to form a solid committee to write grants, enlist sponsors and plan the myriad bookfest details. Not right away, anyway.

It was five years before there was another book festival. This one was a true statewide book event, the Equality State Book Festival in Casper. It was six years before there was another bookfest in Cheyenne, and that was the Wyoming Book Festival in locales throughout downtown Cheyenne. It continues to be a project of the Wyoming Center for the Book at the Wyoming State Library.

Planning for the first ESBF began in late 2004. It involved a very motivated and dependable planning committee. A big budget too – more than $100,000. Lots of sponsoring organizations in Casper and throughout Wyoming.

The third ESBF will be held Sept. 24-25 at Casper College and environs. I’m on the committee but the real work is done by the Casper organizers, notably co-chairs Laurie Lye and Holly Wendt of Casper College.

Here’s to you, bookfest organizers. Lots of work and little glory. But people come out to see their favorite authors and buy books. Every year, bookfest authors go to local schools to get kids excited about reading. Bookstores sell books. Authors read from their books. There’s a late-night slam for poets. Workshops for striving writers and poets.

We’ve all learned some lessons since that first bookfest when the smoke and ashes from 9/11 were still in the air.

The Hitch was not officially an historic site, just the place of many memories for many people. Nine years ago it was the place where we constructed the foundation for bookfests to come. Now it’s smoke and ruins.

See you in Casper Sept. 24-25 as we keep building bookfest traditions in Wyoming.

--Michael Shay

This story was cross-posted (in a slightly different form) from the hummingbirdminds blog

Meet the Equality State Book Festival authors: John Vernon

Another distinguished author appearing at the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24-25 in Casper:

John Vernon is a Massachusetts native who now lives in Colorado. He was educated at Boston College and the University of California at Davis, and has taught at the University of Utah and Binghamton University (S.U.N.Y.) He is the author of eleven books, including the book of poems Ann, the memoir A Book of Reasons, and the novels La Salle, Lindbergh's Son, Peter Doyle, All for Love: Baby Doe and Silver Dollar, The Last Canyon, and Lucky Billy. His work has appeared in Harper's, Poetry, American Poetry Review, The Nation, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Book Review, and many other magazines, journals, and newspapers. Two of his books have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and he has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts grants.

Vernon is the 21st faculty member at Binghamton University to be named a Distinguished Professor and now teaches there each spring semester. For the rest of the year, he lives in the mountains of northern Colorado and combines a routine of writing and mountain climbing. In Colorado, he is also affiliated with the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

John Vernon will be on stage for “Imagining Billy the Kid: A Reading from Lucky Billy” on Friday, Sept. 24, 7:30-8:30 p.m., in the Aley Fine Arts Center Durham Hall at Casper College. The event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Meet the Equality State Book Festival presenters: Jaimee Wriston Colbert

Jaimee Wriston Colbert is one of the presenters for the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24-25 in Casper.

Here's some info about Jaimee:

Jaimee Wriston Colbert is the author of a new novel, Shark Girls, nominated for the ALA Notable Books of 2010 List and a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards; a linked stories collection, Dream Lives of Butterflies, which won the gold medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Awards; a novel in stories, Climbing the God Tree, winner of the Willa Cather Fiction Prize; and the story collection Sex, Salvation, and the Automobile, winner of the Zephyr Publishing Prize. Her stories have appeared in numerous journals, including TriQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, Tampa Review, Connecticut Review and New Letters, broadcast on “Selected Shorts,” archived in “New Letters on the Air,” and anthologized. Two recent stories won the Jane’s Stories National Short Story Award, 2008, and the Isotope Editors’ Fiction Prize, 2009. Originally from Hawai’i, she is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at SUNY, Binghamton University.

Jaimee will wrap up the festival with “Stories that Bite Back: A Reading from Shark Girls” from 8-9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25, in the Aley Fine Arts Center, Durham Hall, Casper College. The event is free and open to the public.

Shark Girls has been nominated for the ALA Notable Books of 2010 List and as a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards. The novel takes place in Hawai’i and follows the lives of two sisters, from Hawai’i to Maine, in the aftermath of a shark attack in Oahu. Books will be available for purchase and signing at this event.

For a full schedule of bookfest events, go to http://www.equalitystatebookfest.com/

Promoting fine writers and fine wines and a fine library

Here's an interesting way to promote fine writers and fine wines and the restoration and expansion of an historic Carnegie Library. (For an example of a similar project in Wyoming, visit the Fremont County Library in Lander.)

D'Vine Wine Manitou has released commemorative bottles of its wine with specially designed Author Fest of the Rockies labels (see sample above). A portion of the proceeds from every bottle sold benefit Author Fest  slated for October 2-3 at the Cliff House in Manitou Springs. This statewide literary event brings over 50 Colorado authors to Manitou for the conference.

The Manitou Springs Public Library, a 1910 Carnegie, was slated for restoration. The Friends of the Manitou Springs Public Library, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the library, has now focused its efforts on expansion. Author Fest, as a Friends event, centers attention not only on the library, but on Manitou Springs. "This is the kind of event we love to see in Manitou Springs," said Eric Drummond, Mayor of Manitou. "Author Fest engages the community, reflects the importance of reading and literature and brings visitors in from across the state."

Keynote speakers for the event include Michelle Vandepas (Conscious Livelihood), Alec Greven (How to Talk to Girls), illustrator Mark Ludy and Nancy Atherton (the Aunt Dimity series). Over 50 other Colorado authors will be presenting in the largest Author Fest to date. There is also an Arts-in-Education component to Author Fest, as authors will be visiting Manitou Springs and Ute Pass schools. An art/short story/poetry contest is also held and 10 scholarships to attend the conference will be available to high school seniors and college students.

Events related to the conference include a kickoff party on Monday, September 28, at D’Vine Wines of Manitou Springs; Poetry night at Black Cat Books on Tuesday, September 29; Movie Night at the Manitou Springs Public Library, on Wednesday, September 30, featuring “The Hours”; a VIP Reception at the Avenue Hotel B&B on Thursday, October 1; Open Mic Night at Kinfolks on Friday, October 2; and an Authors’ Showcase at the Cliff House on Saturday, October 3. All events except the VIP Reception are free to the public.

Registration for Author Fest is $30 for each day or $50 for both days. Keynote breakfast and luncheon sessions are $20 each. In-kind sponsors for Author Fest of the Rockies include The Colorado Springs Independent, Black Cat Books, Stagecoach Inn, Kinfolks, The Avenue Hotel B&B and D’Vine Wines of Manitou Springs. For more information, to register or to become an AF sponsor, go to http://www.authorfestoftherockies.org/. Author Fest also has a presence on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information about the restoration/expansion project for the Manitou Springs Public Library, to register for or sponsor Author Fest of the Rockies, call Laura Ettinger at 719-231-7202 or email pressroom@authorfestoftherockies.org.

Casper Equality State Book Festival

Equality State Book Festival

About the 2010 Book Festival

The Equality State Book Festival is back for its third incarnation on the 24th anniversary of the annual Casper College/ARTCORE Literary Conference. This year, we’ll host 16 authors and illustrators for a vast variety of exciting events on September 24 & 25 in Casper, WY.

Our participants this year include (but are certainly not limited to) 2008 favorite Jack Gantos; award-winning novelists Jaimee Wriston Colbert and John Vernon; children’s author and illustrator extraordinaire Zak Pullen; teaching talent Gene Gagliano; poets Ravi Shankar and Robert Wrigley; Alaskan author and illustrator Ray Troll, and Idaho memoirist Kim Barnes. Nonfiction notable Lee Gutkind, judge of the 2010 Wyoming Arts Council fellowship contest, will join us for the fellowship prize reading, with Casper’s own Nina McConigley and the three fellowship recipients.

Check out all of our participants on the “Authors” page. In addition to the readings, there will be panel discussions, book signings, creative writing craft talks, a gala banquet, and a poetry slam emceed by the ever-popular George Vlastos. Click on the “Events” tab above for more details on all of these dynamic happenings. Registration for the banquet is available at the “Register” tab. (Go to http://www.equalitystatebookfest.com/)

For questions or more information, contact:

Equality State Book Festival

Attn: Laurie Lye

Casper College

125 College Drive

Casper, WY 82601

(800) 442-2963 Ext. 2639

(307) 268-2639

llye@caspercollege.edu

Novelist Larry Watson at Equality State Bookfest

Larry Watson is one of the many fine writers who will participate in the Equality State Book Festival in Casper Sept. 24-25. All bookfest events are free except for the Friday night banquet.

Larry Watson received his BA and MA from the University of North Dakota, and his Ph.D. from the University of Utah.

He is the author of In A Dark Time, Montana 1948, Justice, White Crosses, Laura, Orchard, Sundown, Yellow Moon, and American Boy (forthcoming 2011), and the chapbook of poetry Leaving Dakota. Watson’s fiction has been published in more than a dozen foreign editions, and has received prizes and awards from Milkweed Press, Friends of American Writers, Mountain and Plains Booksellers Association, New York Public Library, Wisconsin Library Association, and Critics’ Choice. Montana 1948 was nominated for the first IMPAC Dublin international literary prize. Four of his books have been optioned for film.

His short stories and poems have appeared in Gettysburg Review, New England Review, North American Review, Mississippi Review, and other literary magazines. His essays and book reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Washington Post, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and other periodicals and anthologies. Watson has received two writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Watson taught writing and literature at the University of Wisconsin/Stevens Point for many years and is presently a Visiting Professor of English at Marquette University. He has also taught in the low-residency MFA program at Warren Wilson College and he was the Ebey Visiting Writer at Colorado College.

He and his wife Susan live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have two daughters, Elly and Amy, and two grandchildren, Theodore and Abigail.

Meet the Equality State Book Festival presenters -- poet Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar is just one of the writers who will be featured at the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24-25 at Casper College. For more on Ravi, go to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Shankar_(poet). Also look him up on Facebook.

Here's some info from the bookfest web site:

Ravi Shankar is Associate Professor and Poet-in-Residence at Central Connecticut State University and the founding editor of Drunken Boat, the international online journal of the arts, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. He has published a book of poems, Instrumentality (Cherry Grove). Ravi was named a finalist for the 2005 Connecticut Book Awards, and with Reb Livingston, collaborated on a chapbook, Wanton Textiles (No Tell Books, 2006). He currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Connecticut Center for the Book. Ravi reviews poetry for the Contemporary Poetry Review and along with Tina Chang and Nathalie Handal, he edited Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East & Beyond (W.W Norton & Co.) , which was called “a beautiful achievement for world literature” by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer.

Ravi is a recipient of a Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism (CCT) FY09 fellowship in Poetry. He also was a winner of a Puschart Prize in poetry, and has received fellowships from Breadloaf, the MacDowell Colony, and the Blue Mountain Center. He has served as a commentator on National Public Radio as well as the BBC. He has two chapbooks of poetry coming out in 2010, including a collaboration with late American artist Sol LeWitt: Seamless Matter (Rain Taxi) and Voluptuous Bristle (Finishing Line).

Ravi's recent book of poems, Deepening Groove, won the 2010 National Poetry Review Prize and will be published in 2011. He is currently on the faculty of Eastern Mediterranean University, the Stonecoast Writers Conference and the first international MFA program in Creative Writing at City University of Hong Kong. He has performed his work around the world, including the Asia Society, PEN India, St. Mark's Poetry Project and the National Arts Club.

Kim Barnes & Robert Wrigley at Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24-25

Idaho writing couple Kim Barnes and Robert Wrigley are two of the presenters who will be featured at the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24-25 at Casper College.

Here's info from the bookfest web site:

Kim Barnes is the author of two memoirs and two novels, most recently A Country Called Home, which received the 2009 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Fiction and was named a best book of 2008 by The Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and The Oregonian (Northwest). She is the recipient of the PEN/Jerard Fund Award for an emerging woman writer of nonfiction, and her first memoir, In the Wilderness, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, including the New York Times, MORE, O Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Fourth Genre, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. Her forthcoming novel, American Mecca, an exploration of Americans living in 1960s Saudi Arabia, will be published by Knopf in 2011. Barnes teaches writing at the University of Idaho and lives with her husband, the poet Robert Wrigley, on Moscow Mountain.

Robert Wrigley was born in 1951, in East St. Louis, Illinois, and grew up not far away in Collinsville, a coal mining town. Wrigley attended Southern Illinois University and the University of Montana, where he developed an abiding love for the western wilderness. Since 1977 he has lived in Idaho, teaching first at Lewis-Clark State College, in Lewiston, and since 1999, at the University of Idaho, where he teaches in the MFA program in creative writing. His books of poetry include The Sinking of Clay City (Copper Canyon , 1979); Moon In a Mason Jar (University of Illinois, 1986); What My Father Believed (Illinois, 1991); In the Bank of Beautiful Sins (Penguin, 1995); and Reign of Snakes (Penguin, 1999). His most recent book is Lives of the Animals (Penguin, 2003). He is the recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Among his awards are the J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize, and the Frederick Bock Prize, from Poetry magazine; the Wagner Award from the Poetry Society of America; and six Pushcart Prizes. In the Bank of Beautiful Sins received the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award for 1996. Reign of Snakes was awarded the 2000 Kingsley Tufts Award in poetry. Lives of the Animals won The Poets’ Prize for 2005.He lives with his wife, the writer Kim Barnes, near Moscow, Idaho.

Books (and book festivals) are for cowboys and horses and you and me

It's been awhile since this book-loving cowboy and his literate horse have been seen in Wyoming.

But horse and rider and books and writers and readers return Sept. 24-25, 2010, for the Equality State Book Festival in Casper.

FMI: http://www.equalitystatebookfest.org/

Photo: Illustration by Zak Pullen of Casper

2010 Equality State Book Festival set for Casper College Sept. 24-25

In case you haven't heard, the Equality State Book Festival will be held Sept. 24-25 at Casper College. Here are some details from the bookfest web site:

In 2006, the first statewide book festival, The Equality State Book Festival, was held in Casper. Four years later with two book fests now under our belts, we proudly mark the 24th anniversary of the Annual Casper College/ARTCORE Literary Conference by once again celebrating books, authors and the written word in Wyoming with two days of fun in Casper, September 24-25. We hope you will join us for readings, panel discussions, book signings, craft talks, a banquet and a late-night poetry slam. All events are open to the public without charge except for the banquet.

This year we will feature around 15 authors and illustrators, including but not limited to, Jack Gantos, Larry Watson, Jaimee Wriston Colbert, Zak Pullen, Gene Gagliano, Ravi Shankar and John Vernon. Wyoming Arts Council fellowship judge, Lee Gutkind, and three fellowship winners who will be announced later this summer, will join us for readings as well. Nina McConigley, Honors Program instructor from the University of Wyoming, returns to Casper for the Fest where she will appear on a panel and read for us. And the ever-popular George Vlastos has agreed to emcee the poetry slam which is always a lot of fun!

Visit this page regularly to learn more about the authors and events as we will update it often during the planning process. Registration links for the banquet will be made available later this summer.

We'd like to thank the Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) for their early, generous support, as well as UW/CC and the English department at the University of Wyoming. Funding sources we will be applying to include the Casper College Foundation, Casper Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Natrona County School District, Wyoming Arts Council, The Wyoming Community Foundation, The Wyoming Cultural Trust, Kinder Morgan and the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation. Finally, we'd like to express our appreciation to Casper College and ARTCORE for over two decades of steady support for an annual literary conference in Casper.

Laurie Lye and Holly Wendt, Co-directors, ESBF

From Ten Sleep to Paris: Craig Johnson's touring schedule for spring 2010

In his latest Post-It e-letter, Ucross novelist Craig Johnson listed his touring schedule through May. He'll have more info by May 31 about his national tour for huis new book, "Junkyard Dogs." But here's what he's up to the next few months:

• Tucson, AZ., Tucson Festival of the Book, "Hard Characters and Hard Landscapes," 3/13, 4 PM, "Another Man’s Moccasins, A Conversation with Craig Johnson," 3/14, 10 AM, signings to follow each presentation and at Mysterious Galaxy, 3/13, 2 PM, and Clues Unlimited, 3/13, 5 PM and 3/14 at noon;
• Greybull, WY, Greybull Library, 3/26, 4:30-6 PM;
• Basin, WY, Basin Theatre, 3/26, 7 PM;
• Ten Sleep, WY, Washakie County Library, 3/27, 2 PM;
• Paris, France, Comptoir des Mots, , 4/6, 7:30 PM;
• Nantes, France, Coiffard-Tome 2, 4/7, 2:30-6:30 PM;
• Montpellier, France, Sauramps , 4/8, 6:30 PM;
• Lyon, France, Festival Quai du Polar, 4/9-4/11;
• Huntington, WV, Ohio Valley Book Festival, Cabell County Main Library, 4/14, 1-2:30 PM, Cabell County Gallaher Branch, 4/15, 5-6:30 PM;
• Mission (Kansas City), KS, I Love A Mystery/Border Crimes Chapter SinC, 4/22, 7 PM;
• Omaha, NE, Omaha City Library Blowout, 4/24, 2 PM;
• Sheridan, WY, WYO Theatre, Western Film Festival, "Introduction to Jack Schaeffer’s Shane," May 2, 1 PM;
• Sheridan, WY, Holiday Inn, Raising Readers Benefit, May 8;
• Casper, WY, Natrona County Library 100th Anniversary Celebration, May 4, 7 PM;
• Evanston, WY, Uinta County Library, 5/5, 7 PM;
• Saint Malo, France, Etonnants Voyageurs, 5/22-5/24.

Dang, Craig, Ten Sleep, Wyoming, and Paris, France, all in the course of a ten-day span? How we going to keep you down on the ranch after you've seen Paree?

FMI: http://www.craigallenjohnson.com/

Call for entries: 2010 Green Book Festival

From a press release:

The 2010 Green Book Festival has issued the call for entries to its annual competition honoring books that contribute to greater understanding, respect and positive action on the changing worldwide environment.

The 2010 Green Book Festival will consider published, self-published and independent publisher works in the following categories: non-fiction, fiction, children's books, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, comics/graphic novels, poetry, science fiction/horror, biography/autobiography, gardening, cookbooks, animals, photography/art, e-books, wild card (anything goes!), scientific, white paper, legal, business, mystery and spiritual.

Entries can be in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Italian. Our grand prize for the 2010 Green Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 and transportation to our April 30-May 2, 2010 outdoor festival in Los Angeles as part of the LA Garden Show OR an equivalent amount donated in your name to the environmental charity of your choice.

A panel of judges will determine the winners based on the following criteria:
1) The overall writing style and presentation of the work;
2) The potential of the work to enhance understanding of the environment and its issues;

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at http://www.greenbookfestival.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you by emailing GreenBookFestival@sbcglobal.net or calling our office at 323-665-8080.

Congratulations to our fellow writers in Utah

This announcement comes from Guy Lebeda at the Utah Arts Council:

The Utah Book Festival presents the Third Annual Utah Literary Awards Ceremony, honoring winners of the annual Utah Book Award (Utah Center for the Book), the Annual Original Writing Competition (Utah Arts Council), the May Swenson Poetry Award (Utah State University Press), and the Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry (University of Utah Press).

Who: Utah Book Festival, Utah Arts Council Literature Program, Utah Center for the Book, USU Press, U of U Press.
What: Third Annual Utah Literary Awards Ceremony
Where: Salt Lake City Public Library, 210 E 400 S, Salt Lake City
When: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 7 p.m.
Why: To honor Utah's finest writers and celebrate our state's literary culture.

For more info: Utah Arts Council's Writing Contest page: http://arts.utah.gov/funding/competitions/writing_competition/index.html
Utah Book Festival: http://www.utahhumanities.org/

Johnson wows the crowd at National Bookfest

Mystery writer and WAC fellowship recipient Craig Johnson of Ucross was one of the presenters at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. He read his work to some 700 people who crowded into a big tent on the National Mall. His talk is featured in a webcast at the Library of Congress web site. To watch, go to http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/authors/Johnson-Craig.html

He's back home and will be reading from and signing copies of his books at locales close to his Sheridan County home. He'll be at the Clearmont Branch Library in Clearmont on Thursday, October 22, 7 p.m., and at the Tongue River Branch Library, Ranchester, on Friday, October 23, from 5:30-8 p.m.

FMI: http://www.craigallenjohnson.com/