Center for the Book Speakers Bureau

Mario Acevedo is an award-winning editor and a bestselling author of fantasy, action, and historical novels, including short stories. He lives in Denver.

Luther, Wyoming

Two Civil War veterans find themselves on both sides of the law when they corral a murderous bandit and help themselves to his stolen loot. Their plans go south when the bandit’s gang shows up wanting vengeance and their money in this tale of larceny, betrayal, and the return of a lost love to help set things right.

Alison Ames has previously written nonfiction on the internet, mostly about music and tarot cards. To Break a Covenant is her debut novel, and her next book, It Looks Like Us, will be published in September 2022. Alison lives in Longmont.

To Break a Covenant

Moon Basin has been haunted for as long as anyone can remember since a mine explosion killed 16 people. The ex-mining town relies on its haunted reputation to bring in tourists, but there’s more truth to the rumors than most are willing to admit, and the mine still has a hold on everyone who lives there. No matter how many vans of ghost hunters roll through, nobody can get to the bottom of what’s really going on.

Carina Bissett is a writer, poet, and educator working primarily in the fields of dark fiction and fabulism. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in multiple journals and anthologies, and she lives in Colorado Springs.

Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas

Believing the ancient peoples knew some lands were given over to shadow and spirit, the Umbra Arca Society, a centuries-old private league of explorers, dedicated their lives to uncovering the oldest mysteries of the Americas. The Shadow Atlas collects their adventures.

Jane Botkin became intrigued with Jane Street after learning her grandmother, born in 1898 in Denver, worked as a domestic in a Boulder mansion in 1916. Botkin has won five awards, including two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America and the Caroline Bancroft History Prize for Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood That Stained an American Family. Jane lives in New Mexico.

The Girl Who Dared to Defy: JaneStreet and the Rebel Maids of Denver

Setting Jane Street’s story within the wider context of early twentieth-century class struggles and the women’s suffrage movement, this book paints a fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking portrait of one woman’s courageous fight for equality Street’s story relays an astonishing drama populated by burlesque dancers, con men, radicals, thugs, pimps, muckraking journalists, and undercover agents.

Jodi Bowersox has been an actress, seamstress, designer, business owner, homeschool teacher, choir director, and artist. Her romance novels span genres from faith fiction to suspense to time travel to sci fi, with small town, big city, and interplanetary settings. She lives in Colorado Springs.

Red Rabbit on the Run

After being kidnapped and sold to a brothel, schizophrenic Tiffany Morrow emerges from a bad drug-induced trip in the custody of a couple who claim to be taking her home to Denver. She doesn’t know how much time had passed since she’d been carried out of that vile cabin in the Amazon, but she can’t go home until she proves someone is embezzling funds from her mother’s corporation.

Claire Boyles received her MFA from Colorado State University, and her writing has appeared in VQR, Kenyon Review, Boulevard, and Masters Review, among others. She writes movies for the Hallmark Channel and is a proud member of the Writers Guild of America West. Claire lives in Loveland.

Site Fidelity

Firmly rooted in the modern American West, Site Fidelity follows women and families who feel the instinctual, inexplicable pull of a home they must work to protect from the effects of economic inequity and climate catastrophe. In lean, lyrical prose, Boyles evokes the bleakness and beauty of our threatened western landscapes.

Olivia Chadha is the author of the adult literary novel Balance of Fragile Things. Her debut YA novel, Rise of the Red Hand was the winner of the Colorado Book Award for Young Adult Literature, and is followed by the sequel, Fall of the Iron Gods. She writes speculative fiction and comic books for MG, YA, and adult audiences. She has a Ph.D. from Binghamton University’s creative writing program and her research centers on the history of exile, India’s Partition, global folklore and fairy tales, and the relationship between humans and the environment. She lives in Colorado with her family.

Rise of the Red Hand

A searing portrayal of the future of South Asian climate change, a street rat turned revolutionary and the disillusioned hacker son of a politician try to take down a ruthlessly technocratic government that sacrifices its poorest citizens to build its utopia. Uplanders lead luxurious lives inside a climate-controlled biodome while the poor and forgotten scrape by in slums threatened by rising sea levels, unbreathable air, and superbugs.

Todd Fahnestock is a writer of fantasy for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age Award. Threadweavers and The Whisper Prince Trilogy are two of his bestselling epic fantasy series. He is a 2021 Colorado Book Award finalist and winner of the Colorado Authors League Award for Writing Excellence for Tower of the Four: The Champions cademy. Todd lives in Englewood.

Khyven the Unkillable

After 49 victories in the bloody Night Ring, Khyven the Unkillable is a celebrity gladiator. If he can survive one more battle, King Vamreth will free him and declare him a knight. As Khyven struggles to complete his mission, he is caught between a growing respect for a rebel queen who will do anything for her people and a ruthless king who will stop at nothing to crush her.

Alice Feagan is a children’s book creator known for her distinct cut-paper collage style in The Collectors and School Days Around the World. She creates playful illustrations for children’s books, magazines, apps, educational products, and games. Alice lives in Edwards.

Read Island

A rhyming celebration of nature, books, and the importance of stories, Read Island invites you to experience the diversity and wonder of a hidden and wild place.

Wendy J. Fox is the author of four books of fiction, including the novel If the Ice Had Held. She has written for The Rumpus, Buzzfeed, Self, Business Insider, and Ms., and her work has appeared in literary magazines including Washington Square, Euphony, and Painted Bride Quarterly. Wendy lives in Denver.

What if We Were Somewhere Else

“What if we were somewhere else?” is the question everyone asks in these linked stories as they try to figure out how to move on from job losses, broken relationships, and fractured families. Following the employees of a nameless corporation and their loved ones, these stories examine the connections they forge and the choices they make as they try to make their lives mean something in the soulless, unforgiving hollowness of corporate life.

Megan E. Freeman writes middle grade and young adult fiction and is also a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, and her poetry collection, Lessons on Sleeping Alone, was published by Liquid Light Press. An award-winning teacher with decades of classroom experience, Megan is nationally recognized for her work leading workshops and speaking to audiences across the country. She lives in Berthoud.

Alone

When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone, left behind in a town that has been mysteriously abandoned. With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own.

Scott Graham is the author of the acclaimed National Park Mystery series and of five nonfiction books, including Extreme Kids, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in Durango.

Canyonlands Carnage

When suspicious deaths befall a whitewater rafting expedition through Cataract Canyon in Canyonlands National Park, archaeologist Chuck Bender and his family see that evil intent lies behind the tragedies. They must risk their lives and act before the murderer makes a risky journey on the Colorado River through Utah’s red rock wilderness even deadlier.

E.J. Levy’s fiction and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Best American Essays, The New York Times, Orion, Salon, Rumpus, Salmagundi, Kenyon Review, The Nation, and won a Pushcart Prize. The Cape Doctor was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a Barnes & Noble Best Book of Summer. Foreign editions are forthcoming in French, Spanish, and Italian. E.J. lives in Fort Collins.

The Cape Doctor

Levy’s debut novel is inspired by the life of Dr. James Miranda Barry, born Margaret Anne Bulkley circa 1795 in Cork, Ireland. Dr. Barry was an eminent nineteenth-century physician that revolutionized medicine and our ideas of gender. The novel recounts Margaret’s transformation from daughter to son in order to enter medical school and provide for her mother.

Morgan Liphart’s work has appeared in anthologies and journals across the United States and England, such as the University of Oxford’s Literary Imagination, The Comstock Review, and Third Wednesday. Morgan lives in Broomfield.

Barefoot and Running

These poems follow a young woman’s journey from the plains of the Midwest to the mountains of Colorado. Through this journey, readers discover the deep healing found in wild spaces and bear witness to the tenacity of the human heart.

Nicole Magistro owned The Bookworm bookstore in Edwards, Colorado for 15 years, wrote thousands of book reviews, and is a mentor, journalist, consultant, and community leader. Nicole lives in Edwards.

Read Island

A rhyming celebration of nature, books, and the importance of stories, Read Island invites you to experience the diversity and wonder of a hidden and wild place.

D. Eric Maikranz has been a foreign correspondent in Rome and has worked as a tour guide, a radio host, a bouncer, and as a Silicon Valley software executive. The Reincarnationist Papers is his first novel, which has been adapted into the Paramount Pictures film Infinite. Eric lives in Denver.

The Reincarnationist Papers

Discovered as three notebooks in an antique store in Rome at the turn of the millennium, The Reincarnationist Papers offers a tantalizing glimpse into the Cognomina, a secret society of people who possess total recall of their past lives.

Wayne Miller is the author of five collections of poems, including Post- and We the Jury. He is also a cotranslator of two books from the Albanian poet Moikom Zeqo, and a coeditor of three anthologies, including Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century and New European Poets. Miller is a professor of English at the University of Colorado Denver where he edits Copper Nickel.

We the Jury

Miller faces moments of profound discomfort, grief, and even joy with a philosopher’s curiosity, a father’s compassion, and an overarching inquiry at the crossroads of ethics and art: what is the poet’s role in making sense of human behavior?

Todd Mitchell is the author of several award-winning novels for young readers, teens, and adults including The Last Panther, The Traitor King, The Secret to Lying, and Backwards. His other recent book, a middle grade novel titled The Namer of Spirits, has been optioned for film/TV development. Todd directs the Beginning Creative Writing Teaching Program at Colorado State University and lives in Fort Collins.

Breakthrough: How to Overcome Doubt, Fear, and Resistance to Be Your Ultimate Creative Self

Mitchell works to expose the toxic success myths that hold people back to reveal radical, perspective-shifting solutions. His concise, friendly chapters weave together personal experiences with guidance from research and philosophical traditions, giving readers pragmatic ways to turn potential breakdowns into life-changing breakthroughs.

Nancy Oswald has written personal interest pieces, children’s plays, poetry, educational research, biography, and nonfiction articles, and her books have won the Spur Award, CIPA Evvy Award, Willa Literary Award, Will Rogers Award, Colorado Author’s League Writing Award, and has had multiple finalist recognitions. Nancy currently lives on a family ranch near Cotopaxi.

Bats, Bandits, and Buggies: A Ruby and Maude Adventure

In Colorado Springs, in the summer of 1898, thirteen-year-old Ruby is bored. What starts out as a plan to train her donkey, Maude, to pull a buggy, ends up in a prickly business deal with her friend Roy, who has run away from Cripple Creek to escape his misery working in the mines. It takes all Ruby’s courage and a little help from her friend to rescue Roy and solve the mystery surrounding Roy’s Aunt Agnes.

Melissa Payne is the bestselling and award-winning author of The Secrets of Lost Stones and Memories in the Drift. She has long been telling stories in one form or another, from high school newspaper articles to a graduate thesis to blogging about marriage and motherhood. Melissa lives in Conifer.

The Night of Many Endings

Orphaned at a young age and witness to her brother’s decline into addiction, Nora Martinez has every excuse to question the fairness of life. Instead, the open-hearted librarian of a small Colorado community sees only promise. As a winter storm buries Silver Ridge, a collection of lonely hearts takes shelter in the library. No matter how stranded in life they feel, this fateful night could be the new beginning they didn’t think was possible.

Dow Phumiruk is a clinically retired pediatrician and the author/illustrator of 10 books with six more on the way. Her debut book, Mela and the Elephant, was a Colorado Book Awards finalist in 2019, and her book with author Helaine Becker, Counting on Katherine, is a Cook Prize winner. Dow lives in Lone Tree.

Hugsby

When Shelly adopts her pet monster Hugsby she loves everything about him. It doesn’t matter that he can’t do fancy tricks, or whistle, or blow bubbles. He gives the best hugs ever.

Julie Rada is a theatre maker, educator, and scholar who has toured nationally and internationally and has published on prison arts practice in multiple journals. Julie is currently affiliate faculty at MSU Denver and lives in Denver.

Tell It Slant: An Anthology of Creative Nonfiction by Writers from Colorado’s Prisons

In a time of unprecedented isolation, the stories we tell ourselves and each other create a sense of belonging and community. The writings in this anthology come from a Tell It Slant: Reading & Writing Creative Nonfiction correspondence course that the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative offered in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Corrections at nine state facilities.

Julian Rubinstein is an award-winning, Denver-based journalist and the author of Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Best Fact Crime award. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times Magazine, as well as in Best American Crime Writing. He is a visiting professor of the practice of documentary journalism at the University of Denver.

The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood

Much more than a crime story, this multigenerational saga of race and politics runs from the civil rights movement to Black Lives Matter. With a cast of billionaires, elected officials, cops, developers, and street kids, the book explores the porous boundaries between a city’s elites and its most disadvantaged citizens.

Blake Sanz has published fiction in Ecotone, Puerto del Sol, Fifth Wednesday Journal, and elsewhere. His writing has garnered recognition from Zoetrope: All-Story, the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sozopol Fiction Seminars in Bulgaria, and other conferences and residencies. Blake lives in Denver and teaches writing at the University of Denver.

The Boundaries of Their Dwelling

Moving between the American South and Mexico, these stories explore how immigrant and native characters are shaped by absent family and geography. This collection tracks the emotional journeys of characters seeking love and redemption beyond the barriers of their homes and cultures.

Jennifer Koshatka Seman lectures in history at Metropolitan State University in Denver. Her work has appeared in Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses and the Journal of the West. She lives in Loveland.

Borderlands Curanderos: The Worlds of Santa Teresa Urrea and Don Pedrito Jaramillo

This dual biography is a historical exploration of the worlds and healing practices of Santa Teresa Urrea and Don Pedrito Jaramillo, two curanderos (faith healers) who attracted thousands, rallied their communities, and challenged institutional powers. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they worked beyond the reach of the church, state, or state-certified health practitioners whose profession was still in its infancy.

Jenny Shank’s novel The Ringer won the High Plains Book Award, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and McSweeney’s. Her work has been honorably mentioned by Best American Essays and the Pushcart Prize. She teaches in the Mile High MFA program at Regis University and the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver. Jenny lives in Boulder.

Mixed Company

In this book the author reveals moments of grace and connection between people of her hometown, Denver, through stories that contrast the city during its oil-bust era of economic troubles and court-ordered crosstown busing for racial desegregation with the burgeoning and gentrifying city of recent years.

Martin J. Smith, a veteran journalist and former senior editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, is the author of five crime novels and four nonfiction books. He has won more than 50 newspaper and magazine writing awards, and his novels have been nominated for three of the publishing industry’s most prestigious honors, including the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award, and the Barry Award. He lives in Granby.

Going to Trinidad: A Doctor, a Colorado Town, and Stories from an Unlikely Gender Crossroads

Between 1969 and 2010, remote Trinidad, Colorado was the unlikely crossroads for approximately 6,000 medical pilgrims who came looking for relief from the pain of gender dysphoria, making the phrase “Going to Trinidad” a euphemism for gender confirmation surgery in the worldwide transgender community. The book takes readers deep into the often-mystifying world of gender, genitalia, and sexuality.

Susan J. Tweit’s thirteen books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles have won the Colorado Book Award, the EDDIE (for magazine journalism), and Foreword Book of the Year. Her commentaries have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post, and on regional public radio. Susan lives in Montrose.

Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying

Susan and her economist-turned-sculptor husband had just settled into their version of a “good life” when Richard saw thousands of birds one day, harbingers of the brain cancer that would kill him two years later. This compelling and intimate memoir chronicles their journey into the end of his life, framed by their final trip together, a 4,000-mile-long delayed honeymoon road trip.

Wanda Venters moved to Colorado 35 years ago as a major stationed at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center. After three decades as a pediatrician, she retired and began a second career, first as a children’s author and then as a mystery novelist.

Break Bone Fever

When Dr. Gennifer Drake’s body washes up on a foggy beach on Galveston Island, Texas, Dr. Louise Finnerty, an emergency medicine physician, and Dr. Marnie Liccione, a recently widowed pediatrician from Colorado, are shocked by their friend’s death. Untangling the web of lies propagated by an EPA cabal, they fight for justice and for their lives.

Len Vlahos is the author of The Scar Boys, a William C. Morris Award finalist and a #1 Indie Next pick, and Scar Girl, the book’s sequel. Len owns the Tattered Cover Book Store and lives in Denver.

Girl on the Ferris Wheel

This quirky and poignant romance explores what first love really means and how it sometimes hurts. Tenth-graders Eliana and Dmitri could not be more different. He’s an outgoing, self-confident drummer in a punk band. Eliana is an introspective and thoughtful movie buff living with depression.

Kathryn Wilder’s work has been cited in Best American Essays and nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appeared in such publications as High Desert Journal, River Teeth, Fourth Genre, Sierra, and many anthologies. She has been a finalist for the Waterston Desert Writing Prize and is a past and current finalist for the Ellen Meloy Fund Desert Writers Award. Kathryn lives in Dolores.

Desert Chrome: Water, a Woman, and Wild Horses in the West

This personal story of grief, motherhood, and a return to the desert entwines with the story of America’s mustangs as Wilder makes a home on the Colorado Plateau, her property bordering a mustang herd. Desert Chrome illuminates these controversial creatures’ complex American history, their powerful presence on the landscape, and ways to help both horses and habitats stay wild in the arid West, while celebrating the animal nature in us all.

Carter Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of eight critically acclaimed, standalone psychological thrillers, as well as numerous short stories. He is an International Thriller Writers finalist, a four-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his works have been optioned for television and film. Carter lives in Erie.

The Dead Husband: A Novel

One family, one murderer, one victim, and one witness… but no one in the house is innocent. Twenty years ago, a boy disappeared and only Rose and her family know what happened to him. Haunted by guilt, Rose escaped into a new life. Now she appears to have it all: a marriage, a son, and a career. But then her husband is found dead, and foul play is suspected.

Bronwyn Long Borne, is a nurse by day and writer by night. She wrote a wine blog for three years, and is published in academic journals. Her self-published sci-fi/fantasy series The Shalemar Trilogy, written under the pen name Rohret Buchner, incorporates historical fiction, political intrigue, epic fantasy, and romance. Custodian of the Spirits is the first book in The Valley of Heart’s Delight Series, a family saga set in California’s Santa Clara Valley.

Fleur Bradley is the author of the Double Vision trilogy. She’s passionate about two things: mysteries and getting kids to read. Fleur regularly does school visits and speaks at librarian and educator conferences on reaching reluctant readers. Originally from the Netherlands, Fleur now lives in Colorado Springs.

M.E. Browning served 22 years in law enforcement and retired as a captain before turning to a life of crime fiction. Writing as Micki Browning, she penned the Agatha-nominated and award-winning Mer Cavallo mysteries, and her short stories and nonfiction have appeared in anthologies, magazines, and textbooks. Writing as M.E. Browning, Shadow Ridge begins a new series of Jo Wyatt mysteries.

Dylan Fisher‘s first book, The Loneliest Band in France, was the Winner of Texas Review Press’s 2019 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize and selected as a 2020 Coups de Cœur by The American Library in Paris. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dylan recently relocated from Denver to Atlanta to begin a PhD in Creative Writing at Georgia State University. He is currently drafting two novels, one of which is a sort of sequel to his first, and he has a third in the planning stages.

Research psychologist Nancy Bo Flood studied brain development at the University of Minnesota, and as a post-doctoral scientist at the University of London. She has conducted workshops on child abuse, learning disabilities, play therapy, and creative writing. Her writings have been named Arizona Book of the Year; Colorado Book of the Year; Top 100 Books of the Year, Bank Street; and Junior Library Guild Selection. She has a particular interest in legends and folklore, and the power of story to build compassion and bridge understanding among people, and is the author of several books, including Warriors in the Crossfire and Soldier Sister, Fly Home.

Kelsey Freeman focuses on indigenous rights, immigration policy, and social justice. Her first book No Option but North: The Migrant World and the Perilous Path Across the Border won the Colorado Book Award for creative nonfiction and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in general nonfiction. She has spoken and interviewed across the country on immigration policy. Kelsey has also worked for Central Oregon Community College where she ran a college-readiness program for Native American high school students. She is now studying international policy as a Knight Hennessy Scholar at Stanford University.

Tess Freeman is a freelance photographer and videographer with a passion for human interest stories, which led her to Mexico to shoot photos for No Option but North. She studied journalism at the University of Oregon focusing on photography, video and multimedia storytelling. She has worked as a multimedia journalist for The Bulletin, staff photographer at The Coeur d’Alene Press, and a photographer for Rustic Pathways.

Kimberlee Gard spent most of her childhood running from reading, until a loving teacher taught her the tools to overcome her learning disorder, and showed her the magical world of books. From this came Kimberlee’s aspiration to write children’s books that would foster that same love of reading in others. Watching her own son battle dyslexia further inspired her to create stories that would encourage and engage even the most struggling and reluctant reader. Kimberlee and her family live on a small farm in Colorado with a gaggle of barnyard friends that offer constant inspiration for the stories she writes.

Johanna Garton is a mother, writer, and cross country coach. She has dabbled in nonprofit
consulting, college teaching and a brief, but quickly extinguished career as a lawyer. Johanna’s mother, also a journalist, devoted ten-years to researching Christine Boskoff’s story. Johanna continued the research, conducting more than 75 interviews, to finish Edge of the Map. She and her husband share their home in Denver with two bright children who are much wiser than she is and the inspiration of her storytelling.

Loretta Gilbert owned and operated a small assisted living residence in Colorado. She was on the Colorado Department of Health Assisted Living Advisory Committee and served as president of the Colorado Assisted Living Association. Growing up on the Wind River Reservation gave her an expansive understanding of the circle of life. Loretta’s commonsense approach to caregiving and helping seniors and families emerged from her unique life experiences. She lives in Colorado with her husband and much loved animals.

Stephanie Harper received a BA in English from CU Boulder, and her MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. Her narrative nonfiction work can be found in a number of publications both in print and online. She often writes about chronic illness and spirituality. Stephanie is passionate about helping other writers and has served as tutor, writing coach, and developmental editor on a number of projects. She’s always open to new projects and collaborations. Stephanie and her family live in Littleton, CO.

Voted Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Writer of the Year for 2021-22, Sue Hinkin is a former college administrator, TV news photographer, and NBC-TV art department manager. She was also a Cinematography Fellow at the American Film Institute. She has been recognized as a 2018 International Book Award finalist, Reader’s Choice winner, Silver Falchion short-lister, and Foreword Indies award winner. Sue lives in Littleton, Colorado.

Deborah Martinez Martinez earned a Ph.D. in educational leadership in 2001
while serving the community. After 18 years at Colorado State University
at Pueblo, she was an historical interpreter at El Pueblo History Museum,
conducting natural dye workshops throughout Colorado and New Mexico.
She and her partner, Robert Pacheco, have published 11 books including
Trade on the Taos Mountain Trail, a Colorado Book Awards finalist.

James McVey has worked as an outdoor journalist, wildlife biologist, musician, and university professor. He has traveled widely and written about such places as the Nepal, Patagonia, and the coral reefs of Cuba. His short stories and essays have appeared in literary journals around the world. He has read his work at the Sorbonne in Paris and was the featured American author at the Watermark Literary Muster in Australia. James lives in Eldora, Colorado where he operates Victory Gardens, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing local food systems.

Jeri Norgren has spent most of her life exploring the mountains and all the wonders they hold. As a member of the Denver Fortnightly Club, she has authored numerous papers on a variety of topics. Club minutes from 1895 detailing the passage of a motion to rename Mt. Evans inspired her fascination with the nomenclature of Colorado’s highest peaks. Jeri is a nature-lover who lives on a historic Englewood, Colorado farm where dogs, coyotes and a pair of great horned owls keep her company.

Pemba Sherpa grew up in one of the poorest regions of Nepal. At 16 he began leading expeditions to climb the highest mountains in the world. After settling in Colorado, Pemba opened a restaurant in Boulder where he began serving his family’s recipe for traditional chai tea. Overwhelming demand has lead to the development of Sherpa Chai which is marketed worldwide. Pemba’s success has enabled him to build a bridge across the treacherous Dhud Koshi, providing a safe passage for thousands in his home village, and cutting the commute for school children from 3 hours to only 30 minutes.

Sonja K. Solter developed a voracious love of reading as a child. She enjoys writing poetry and prose for children of all ages. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and her master’s critical thesis was on writing trauma in middle grade and young adult realistic fiction. She is currently a creative writing mentor to youth and Drafting Workshop Lead for the Society of Young Inklings and Sonja lives in Louisville, Colorado.

For Molly Tanzer, writing is her refuge, obsession, passion – her life. She is the author of the Diabolist’s Library trilogy, the weird western Vermilion, an io9 and NPR “Best Book” of 2015, and the British Fantasy Award-nominated collection, A Pretty Mouth. Her critically acclaimed short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Transcendent: The Year’s Best Trans and Nonbinary Speculative Fiction, and elsewhere. She lives outside of Boulder, CO.

David A. Varel is a historian of the modern United States who specializes in intellectual history, African American history, the history of race and class, and the civil rights movement. His research examines the social construction of race, paying special attention to the role of black intellectuals in combating scientific racism during the first half of the 20th century. David is an affiliate faculty member of history at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He earned his PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Nancy Walker took care of her mother during the last ten years of her life. She found the commonsense approach extremely helpful during this challenging time. Her diverse background as a professional working for small businesses and global corporations taught her to be flexible while managing change, both of which were essential during those caregiving years. A lifelong learner, Nancy is also a certified Emergenetics Associate. She’s a Colorado native, a theater enthusiast, and an avid reader.

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