Speakers Bureau

We help non-profit organizations identify the kind of literary event that is right for their community, book one of our Speakers Bureau authors, and promote the event. Organizations then schedule the event directly with the author, pay travel expenses, may contribute to honorarium (paid by Colorado Humanities) and work with us to promote the event. Colorado Humanities contracts with the speakers and pays honoraria, which hosts may also contribute to.

Our speakers include 2020, 2021, and 2022 Colorado Book Awards finalists and winners. They can read from their work, lecture, lead workshops, or join book club discussions about their work. If you are interested in booking one of our Speakers Bureau presenters, please complete the application at least 8 weeks prior to your desired event date.

Our mission at the Colorado Center for the Book is to encourage a love of reading and books among people of all ages through diverse cultural activities. For more information, contact Mary Hickey, 303.894.7951 x19, mary@coloradohumanities.org.

February Presentations

Susan J. Tweit – February 9 @ 7:00 pm, Zoom

Colorado Book Award finalist Susan J. Tweit, author of Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying, and Karen Comba, author of The Snipers We Couldn’t See: A Memoir of Growing Up with My Mother’s Schizophrenia, will hold the panel discussion Remembrance & Reflection: The Art of Memoir to recount difficult life experiences with honesty and vulnerability. Hear how they took their pain to the page, ultimately creating stories of resilience, hope, and life itself through the art of memoir.

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Wayne Miller – February 18 @ 7:00 pm, Old Firehouse Books

Colorado Book Award winner Wayne Miller (We the Jury) situates his poems in life’s looming dilemmas, vowing–and inviting us–to “expand our relationship with Death” and with every challenging, uncomfortable subject we meet.”

Andrew Schelling (The Facts at Dog Tank Spring) speaks to the vastness of the American West while embodying traditions of Europe and Asia with echoes of Shakespeare, women poets of old India, and classical Chinese verse. As one reviewer said, The Facts at Dog Tank Spring is “less a book than a world.”

Collectively, these award-winning poets expand our perspective on the emotional and the natural; as Schelling writes, “life looks bigger.”

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Melissa Payne and Carter Wilson – February 25 @ 2:30 pm, Harmony Library

Colorado Book Award finalist Melissa Payne (The Night of Many Endings) and Colorado Book Award winner Carter Wilson (The Dead Husband) host Rich Revelations & Suspenseful Stories. Authors of suspenseful stories with deep undercurrents and nuanced characters, hear how they unfold rich narratives while building reader anticipation.

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Randi Samuelson-Brown lecture at La Veta Library

2022 Finalists and Winners

Click on the speakers below for a biography and information about their work.

Mario Acevedo
Historical Fiction
Alison Ames
Thriller
Carina Bissett
Anthology
Jane Little Botkin
Biography
Jodi Bowersox
Mystery
Claire Boyles
Literary Fiction
Olivia Chadha
Young Adult Literature
Todd Fahnestock
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Alice Feagan
Illustrator
Wendy J. Fox
Literary Fiction
Megan Freeman
Juvenile Literature
Scott Graham
Mystery
E.J. Levy
Historical Fiction
Morgan Liphart
Poetry
Nicole Magistro
Children’s Literature
Eric Maikranz (Online Only)
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Wayne Miller
Poetry
Todd Mitchell
General Nonfiction
Nancy Oswald
Juvenile Literature
Melissa Payne
General Fiction
Dow Phumiruk
Author and Illustrator, Children’s Literature
Julia Rada
Anthology
Julian Rubinstein
General Nonfiction
Blake Sanz
General Fiction
Jennifer Koshatka Seman
Biography
Jenny Shank
General Fiction
Martin J. Smith
History
Susan J. Tweit
Creative Nonfiction
Wanda Venters
Mystery
Len Vlahos
Juvenile Literature
Kathryn Wilder
Creative Nonfiction
Carter Wilson
Thriller

2021 Finalists and Winners

Andrew Altshul (Online only)
Literary Fiction
Fleur Bradley
Young Adult Literature
Rachel Delaney Craft
Anthology
Nancy Bo Flood
Children’s Literature
Kelsey Freeman
Creative Nonfiction
Kimberly Gard
Children’s Literature
Johanna Garton
Creative Nonfiction
Sue Hinkin
Thriller
Jennie Marts
Romance
James McVey
Creative Nonfiction
Jeff Miller
History
Jeri Norgren
History
Barbara Nickless
Mystery
Randi Samuelson-Brown
History
Pemba Sherpa
Creative Nonfiction
David R. Slayton
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Sonja K. Solter
Juvenile Literature
Cary Unkelbach
Biography
Natasha Watts
Anthology

2020 Finalists and Winners

David Boop
Creative Nonfiction
Lija Fisher
Juvenile Literature
Jenny Forrester
Creative Nonfiction
Cate Glass (Carol Berg)
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Pam Houston
Creative Nonfiction
Emily Littlejohn
Mystery
K.L. McKee
Romance
John Nizalowski
Creative Nonfiction
Laura Resau
Juvenile Literature
David J. Rothman
Poetry
Connie Shoemaker
General Nonfiction
Jill Tietjen
Pictorial
Jennifer Wortman
Short Story Collection
Emily Wortman-Wunder
Short Story Collection

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Upcoming Events

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