With the arrival of fall, the local book world gets up and running. Here is a look at some of the events coming in the next two months:
The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Pen & Podium series will launch its second season Sept. 21 with the appearance of Alexander McCall Smith, author of “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” and “The Sunday Philosophy Club.”
Suzan-Lori Parks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, will appear Nov. 14. She is the author of “Getting Mother’s Body,” wrote the play “TopDog/Underdog and recently wrote the screenplay for “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
Michael Cunningham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist best known for his book, “The Hours,” will appear Feb. 20. His last book is titled “Specimen Days.”
Alice Sebold, who became the talk of the literary world with her novel, “The Lovely Bones,” will speak March 21.
Rounding out this year’s series is funnyman David Sedaris, who will appear May 1. Sedaris’ latest book is titled “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.”
The talks will be given in the Gates Concert Hall at the Newman Center of the Performing Arts on the University of Denver campus.
Subscriptions packages, priced from $110 to $170 are available. For more information, call 303-871-7720 or go to penandpodium.com.
The Colorado Center for the Book and the Denver Public Library will sponsor Colorado Authors – Live, a series of panels, readings and signings at the Denver Public Library Central Branch Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The free event features Colorado authors, including some of the finalists for the 14th Colorado Book Awards – John Fielder, T.A. Barron, Stephanie Kane, Tom Quinn Kumpf and Susanna Hoffman – will be on hand.
Finalists for the Colorado Book Awards are:
Fiction: David Ball, “Ironfire”; Janis Hallowell, “The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn”; Kent Haruf, “Eventide”; and Chris Ransick, “A Return to Emptiness.”
Fiction Genre: Margaret Coel, “Wife of Moon”; Diane Mott Davidson, “Double Shot”; Stephanie Kane, “Seeds of Doubt”; Clinton McKinzie, “Crossing the Line”; and Barbara Samuel, “The Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue.”
Nonfiction General: John Fielder, “Mountain Ranges of Colorado”; Tom Quinn Kumpf, “Ireland: Standing Stones to Stormont”; and Nile Southern, “The Candy Men: The Rollicking Life and Times of the Notorious Novel ‘Candy.”‘
Children: Linda Ashman, “Just Another Morning”; Avi, “The End of the Beginning”; T.A. Barron, “High As a Hawk: A Brave Girl’s Historic Climb”; Steve Jenkins, “Actual Size”; Justin Matott and Mark Ludy, “When I Was a Boy … I Dreamed”; and Janet Stevens, “Why Epossumondas Has No Hair on His Tail.”
Young Adult: Avi and Rachel Vail, “Nevermind!: A Twin Novel”; T.A. Barron, “The Great Tree of Avalon”; Julie Anne Peters, “Luna”; and Lynda Sandoval, “Who’s Your Daddy?”
Poetry: Sophie Cabot Black, “The Descent”; Mark Irwin, “Bright Hunger”; David Mason, “Arrivals”; and Bin Ramke, “Matter.”
Educational: Kathryn Black, “Mothering Without a Map”; Whitney Cranshaw, “Garden Insects of North America”; Connie Lockhart Ellefson and David Winger, “Xeriscape Colorado: The Complete Guide”; Susanna Hoffman, “The Olive and the Caper”; and Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson, “Knitting in the Old Way.”
History: Rebecca C. Benes, “Native American Picture Books of Change: The Art of Historic Children’s Editions”; David G. Clark, editor, “A Horse Can’t Buck in Sand: Accounts of Western Country Life in the Early 20th Century”; Thomas J. Noel, “Sacred Stones: Colorado’s Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater”; Rex Alan Smith and Gerald A. Meehl “Pacific War Stories: In the Words of Those Who Survived”; and Denver Art Museum, ” Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life 1521-1821.”
Biography/Memoir: Eugenia Bone, “At Mesa’s Edge: Cooking and Ranching in Colorado’s North Fork Valley”; David Fridtjof Halaas and Andrew E. Masich, “Halfbreed: The Remarkable True Story of George Bent”; and Peter Heller, “Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet’s Tsangpo River.”
The winners will be announced at the Colorado Book Awards Gala, Oct. 6 at the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
For information, call 303-894-7951, ext. 19, or go to Colo radoCenterfortheBook.org
Women Writing the West will present its 2005 Willa Literary Awards during the organization’s annual conference Oct. 21-23 at the Fort Plaza in Fort Worth, Texas. The winners are:
Contemporary Fiction: Mary Sharratt, “The Real Minerva.”
Historical Fiction: Jane Candia Coleman, “Tombstone Travesty: Allie Earp Remembers.”
Original Softcover Fiction: Erin Grady, “Echoes.”
Nonfiction: Kristie Miller, “Isabella Greenway: An Enterprising Woman.”
Memoir/Essay: Lucy Moore, “Into the Canyon: Seven Years in Navajo Country.”
Children’s/Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction: Nancy Oswald, “Nothing Here but Stones.”
For information, go to womenwritingthewest.org or write Joyce Lohse , WWW Administrator, 8547 E. Arapahoe Rd, #J-541, Greenwood Village, CO 80112.
