Aspen Words

Local Writers Read featuring FirstWord Youth Poets
2016-09-15 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | United States
Youth poets from Aspen Words’ after-school poetry team, FirstWord, will read their work at Explore Booksellers as part of the indie bookstore’s monthly Local Writers Read Series (a collaboration between Explore, Aspen Poets’ Society, and Aspen Writers’ Network).
FirstWord meets weekly in Carbondale to share new poems, and have been performing their work at public events throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.
Learn more about AW’s Youth Poetry Program.

Writers in Residence: Helen Schulman
2016-08-16 17:30 - 18:30
DOORS OPEN AT 5PM — Arrive early to purchase drinks or food so as not to disrupt the author talk.
HELEN SCHULMAN is the author of the novels This Beautiful Life (an International Bestseller), A Day At The Beach, P.S., The Revisionist and Out Of Time, and the short story collection Not A Free Show. She co-edited, along with Jill Bialosky, the anthology Wanting A Child. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in such places as Vanity Fair, Time, Vogue, GQ, the New York Times Book Review and the Paris Review. She is presently the Fiction Coordinator at The Writing Program at The New School where she is a tenured Professor of Writing. FREE copies of THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE are available through our Catch & Release program. Books are available for pick-up at the Aspen Words office in the Red Brick Building in Aspen and the Woody Creek Community Center.

Writer in Residence Event: Paul Griner
2016-07-19 17:30 - 18:30
DOORS OPEN AT 5PM — Arrive early to purchase drinks or food so as not to disrupt the author talk.
PAUL GRINER, a former Fulbright Scholar, is the author of the short story collection Follow Me, a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, and the novels Collectors and The German Woman . His work has been published in Tin House, One Story, Ploughshares, Playboy, Zoetrope, The Telegraph of India, and many other magazines, journals, and anthologies, and has been translated into a half dozen languages. His most recent novel, Second Life, was published by Counterpoint/Soft Skull in January 2015. The same year, Sarabande published his collection of stories Hurry Please, I Want To Know.
FREE copies of HURRY PLEASE, I WANT TO KNOW are available through our Catch & Release program starting the first week of July. Pick-up locations are at the Aspen Words office in the Red Brick Building in Aspen and the Woody Creek Community Center.

SUMMER BENEFIT
2016-06-22 18:00 - 22:00
An evening of extraordinary pairings featuring Lucy Kalanithi in conversation with Ann Patchett.
Taste wines from Bodega Catena Zapata (Argentina), Zenato (Italy), Clos du Gaimont (France), and Raats Family Wines (South Africa), among many others. Paired with tasting notes by Summer Words authors, plus exclusive bottles for auction.
All Summer Words faculty, agents, and editors will also be in attendance. This event is held in support of Aspen Words’ year-round programming.
Click here for complete information on purchasing tickets or a table to the event.

WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR has been #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list almost every week since its publication in early January. This profoundly moving memoir was written by Lucy’s late husband, Paul Kalanithi, a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question What makes a human life meaningful? Following his death in March 2015, Lucy shepherded Paul’s book to publication and wrote its stunning epilogue.
Though this memoir was written by a dying man, it is not a book about death, but about life. The Aspen Words Summer Benefit will be an evening of conversation celebrating literature’s role in helping us to more fully understand the joys and challenges of human life. We hope you will join us!

Aspen Summer Words
2016-06-19 16:00 - 2016-06-24 12:00
Recognized as one of the nation’s top literary gatherings, Summer Words is a six-day celebration of words, stories, and ideas held annually in Aspen. Advanced workshops with renowned authors and teachers are an intimate place for writers to develop a manuscript, while introductory workshops invite participants to explore the craft of writing. Literary agents and editors meet one-on-one with workshop participants, while public panel discussions provide inspiration and insight for writers and readers alike. Evening events include readings, receptions, and the Aspen Words Annual Beneﬁt Dinner, featuring a special guest author.
MORE INFOPublic Events ScheduleReaders’ Retreat Beginning Writing WorkshopSummer Benefit Featuring Lucy Kalanithi + Ann Patchett

Writer in Residence Event: Tom Bouman
2016-06-14 18:00 - 19:00
TOM BOUMAN is a former book editor and musician who lives with his wife and daughter in Pennsylvania, where he studies law. He is the author of the novel Dry Bones in the Valley, which won a Los Angeles Times Book Prize and an Edgar Allan Poe Award.
Residency plans: “Dry Bones in the Valley is the first novel in the Henry Farrell series of mysteries set in rural Pennsylvania. I have two more in the series under contract, and with any luck I’ll be working on the third book by the time I arrive in Aspen. I may take that month to get reacquainted with short fiction as well.”
CATCH & RELEASE BOOKSFree copies of Dry Bones in the Valley will be available in advance of the event in an effort to familiarize the community with his work. Starting June 1, stop by the Red Brick Building in Aspen or the Woody Creek Community Center to pick up your free copy. Read it, pass it along to a friend, and join us on June 14!

Writer in Residence Event: Sunil Yapa
2016-05-17 17:30 - 18:30
Writer in Residence Sunil Yapa will read and discuss his novel, Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, one of the most talked-about debuts of 2016.BIO
Sunil Yapa is the author of Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, a debut novel, which was named Most Anticipated Book of the Year for 2016 in the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, Huffington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and BuzzFeed, among other publications. He received an MFA in Fiction from Hunter College in New York City in 2010, where he worked with two-time Booker Prize winning author Peter Carey, and the 2009 National Book Award winner (Let the Great World Spin) Colum McCann. While at Hunter Sunil was also awarded the Alumni Scholarship & Welfare Fund Fellowship, which is given to one fiction student every three years, and was twice selected as a Hertog Fellow, working as a research assistant for Zadie Smith (Changing My Mind), as well as Ben Marcus (The Flame Alphabet).
He is the recipient of the 2010 Asian American Short Story Award, sponsored byHyphen Magazine and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York, and has received scholarships to The New York State Summer Writers’ Institute, The Norman Mailer Writers’ Center in Provincetown and The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
The biracial son of a Sri Lankan father and a mother from Montana, Yapa has lived around the world, including time living in Greece, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, China, and India, as well as, London, Montreal, and New York City.
CATCH & RELEASE BOOKSFree copies of Sunil’s book will be available in advance of the event in an effort to familiarize the community with his work. Starting the week of May 9, stop by the Red Brick Building in Aspen or the Woody Creek Community Center to pick up your free copy. Read it, pass it along to a friend, and join us on May 17!

New York Book Series - The Art of World Building
2016-04-19 18:30 - 20:30
The Aspen New York Book Series is presented by the Aspen Institute and Aspen Words. The April program will feature Lev Grossman, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Magician’s Land; Mark Tompkins, whose debut novel The Last Days of Magic was published by Viking in March; and Hannah Tinti, author of the best-selling novel The Good Thief and editor-in-chief at One Story literary magazine. Their conversation will be moderated by Carole DeSanti, vice president and executive editor at Viking Penguin.6:30 – 8:00 pm Program 8:00 – 8:30 pm Reception Books by the authors will be available for purchase and signing.
REGISTER HERERegistration required

Lev Grossman is the author of five novels, including the international bestseller Codex and the #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians Trilogy. A television series based on the trilogy recently premiered on the Syfy channel. Grossman is the book critic for Time magazine and has written for a number of other publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Salon and Slate.
Hannah Tinti is a writer, editor and teacher. Her short story collection, Animal Crackers, was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her best-selling novel, The Good Thief, is the recipient of numerous awards including a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Her new novel, The Twelve Bullets of Samuel Hawley, is forthcoming from Dial Press. Tinti is also the co-founder of the award-winning magazine One Story and a Literary Commentator on the Public Radio program Selected Shorts. She currently teaches at New York University’s Graduate Creative Writing Program, Columbia University’s MFA Program, and at the Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Mark Tompkins, a lifelong writer and patron of the literary arts, founded the Aspen Writers’ Network and serves on the board of Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute. His poetry has appeared in publications worldwide including: Grain Magazine, Parabola, Photovision, and Leading Edge Review. He has appeared numerous times on National Public Radio (NPR) discussing the creative process and been a guest lecturer on creativity at Texas A&M University. The Last Days of Magic is his first novel.

WINTER WORDS - Sandra Cisneros
2016-04-05 18:00 - 19:00
Sandra Cisneros’ works include two highly acclaimed novels, a short story collection, two poetry collections, and an adult picture book. The first female Mexican-American writer to be published by a mainstream publisher, Cisneros’ debut novel The House on Mango Street won the American Book Award, has sold more than six million copies, and is considered a literary classic. Her most recent book is A House of My Own—a richly illustrated compilation of true stories that span three decades of her life. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, the Lannan Literary Award, the Thomas Wolfe Prize, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Cisneros is the founder of the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral and Macondo Foundations, which serve creative writers. She lives in Mexico.
Winter Words 2016 InfoPurchase Tickets
AW MEMBER PARTY TO FOLLOW THE PAEPCKE EVENTWith special guest Sandra CisnerosRSVP to Jamie KravitzBecome a member

WINTER WORDS - Geraldine Brooks + Tony Horwitz
2016-03-15 18:00 - 19:00
Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novelist. Her most recent book, The Secret Chord, is based on the life of King David, and was published to great critical acclaim in October 2015. Brooks’ first novel, Year of Wonders was an international bestseller and was translated into more than 25 languages. It is in development to become a film starring Andrew Lincoln. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006 for March, which examines Little Women from a different point of view. Her other novels, Caleb’s Crossing and People of the Book were New York Times bestsellers, and she is the author of three nonfiction works: Nine Parts of Desire, Foreign Correspondence, and The Idea of Home. Earlier in her writing career, Brooks covered crises in the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans for the Wall Street Journal. In 1990, with her husband Tony Horwitz, she won the Overseas Press Club Award for best coverage of the Gulf War.
Tony Horwitz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of several bestsellers. He worked for many years as a newspaper reporter, covering wars and conflicts overseas as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. After returning to the U.S., he won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his stories about working conditions in low-wage America. His books include the national and New York Times bestsellers, Confederates in the Attic, Blue Latitudes, Baghdad Without a Map, and A Voyage Long and Strange. His latest book, Midnight Rising, was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2011; one of the year’s ten best books by Library Journal; and won the 2012 William Henry Seward Award for Excellence in Civil War Biography. In 1990, with his wife Geraldine Brooks, he won the Overseas Press Club Award for best coverage of the Gulf War. Horwitz has also been a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a visiting scholar at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
The reading and talk will be followed by a Q+A and book signing. Explore Booksellers will have books for purchase at the event.
Winter Words 2016 InfoPurchase Tickets

BOOK LAUNCH - Mark Tompkins
2016-03-03 17:30 - 19:00
Celebrate AW Board Vice President Mark Tompkins’ debut novel The Last Days of Magic! A short reading will be followed by a book signing, drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
ABOUT THE BOOKAn epic novel of magic and mysticism, Celts and faeries, mad kings and druids, and the goddess struggling to reign over magic’s last outpost on the Earth.
“Plundering the treasure chest of human myths, from mysterious biblical giants to ferocious Celtic faeries, Tompkins has created a fantasy adventure with the shifting perspectives of dreamscape. A novel rich and strange.”
—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Secret Chord
“Simultaneously sweeping and intricate, reaching all the way back to the Dead Sea Scrolls and all the way forward to now, Tompkins’ amazing debut novel conjures an epic battle for the soul of Ireland. Filled with papal machination and royal intrigue, magic and mayhem, faeries, vikings, legates, kings and queens, angels and goddesses, this is one wild and breathless ride.”
—Karen Joy Fowler, author of the Booker Prize–shortlisted We Are All Completely Beside OurselvesMark Tompkins is the founder of the Aspen Writers’ Network and serves on the board of Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute. His poetry has appeared in publications worldwide including: Grain Magazine, Parabola, Photovision, and Leading Edge Review. He has appeared numerous times on National Public Radio (NPR) discussing the creative process and been a guest lecturer on creativity at Texas A&M University. Mark’s black and white photography is in the permanent collection of the Chinese National Photography Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Born in Texas of Irish ancestry, Tompkins lives in Boston, Houston, and Aspen. The Last Days of Magic is his first novel.
Photo Credit: Sigrid Estrada

Aspen Writers' Network Event: State of the Publishing Industry
2016-03-01 18:30 - 20:00
A literary agent for over 25 years, with agencies like William Morris and the Gernert Company, Stephanie Cabot will share her broad expertise with AWN while expounding on the current state of the publishing industry. She’ll specifically address how to market yourself as a writer and how to find the best possible agent for you. Cabot will leave plenty of time open to questions and has asked that members email a brief description of their writing to AW, so she can tailor her remarks accordingly. AWN members should send those descriptions to Jamie Kravitz.
ABOUT STEPHANIE CABOTHalf French, half American, Stephanie was educated in Europe and in the U.S. where she majored in History at Harvard. Her agenting career began in London, where she spent nine years at William Morris – London, the last five as Managing Director where she built a list of international bestselling and prize-winning authors. She moved back to the States in 2005, joined The Gernert Company, and is now selectively adding writers from a variety of genres, including commercial and literary fiction, latte lit, and non-fiction. She is especially interested in writers who tell original stories with strong narratives and create distinctive characters. Recent author publications include The Kindness of Enemies (Leila Aboulela – Grove), Magonia (Maria D. Headley – Harper Collins), Jade Dragon Mountain (Elsa Hart – Macmillan), The Secret Wisdom of the Earth (Christopher Scotton – Hachette),Vanessa and Her Sister (Priya Parmar – Random House, We Are Called to Rise (Laura McBride – S&S), The Canterbury Sisters (Kim Wright – Gallery, S&S), All the Old Knives (Olen Steinhauer – Minotaur), Hild (Nicola Griffith – FSG), Paradise of The Pacific (Susanna Moore – FSG) and Babayaga (Toby Barlow – FSG). In 2016, authors she represents who will publish their work include: Mark Tompkins (Last Days of Magic – Viking Penguin ), Mindy Meija (Everything You Want Me To Be – Emily Bestler Books, S&S), JoAnn Chaney (What You Don’t Know – Flatiron Books) and Martin Walker (Fatal Pursuit – Knopf).

WINTER WORDS - Adam Johnson
2016-02-13 18:00 - 19:00
Adam Johnson is the author of the novel The Orphan Master’s Son, and most recently, a collection of short stories titled Fortune Smiles, winner of the 2015 National Book Award for Fiction. The Orphan Master’s Son won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the California Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was named one of the best books of the year by more than a dozen publications and spent almost a year on the New York Times Bestseller List. Johnson’s other awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Stegner Fellowship; he was also a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award. His previous books are Emporium, a short story collection, and the novel Parasites Like Us.
The reading and talk will be followed by a Q+A and book signing. Explore Booksellers will have books for purchase at the event.
Winter Words 2016 InfoPurchase Tickets

YOUTH POETRY SLAM
2016-02-12 18:30 - 20:30
Aspen Words’ 3rd annual Youth Poetry Slam will be hosted by Roaring Fork Valley’s favorite performance poets Myrlin Hepworth, Logan Phillips, and Mercedez Holtry and will feature the brave high school poets from Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Basalt, and Aspen! It’s going to be an exhilarating night celebrating the power of youth voices.
This event is FREE and audience members of all ages are welcome. The slam starts at 6:30 pm!

WINTER WORDS - Alison Bechdel + Beth Malone
2016-01-27 18:00 - 19:00
Cartoonist Alison Bechdel is the creator of the long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For. She has published two graphic memoirs. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is about her childhood in an artistic family and her relationship with her father, and has been developed into a Broadway musical starring Beth Malone. Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama explores her relationship with her mother through the lens of psychoanalytic theory. She is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur fellowship.
In conversation with Tony-nominated Fun Home star Beth Malone
Beth Malone starred in the 2015 Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir. Raised in Castle Rock, Colorado, Malone spent much of her 20’s in Aspen, where she was a Crystal Palace dinner theater staffer and performed at Theatre Aspen. After leaving Aspen, she completed a graduate degree with the drama department at UC Irvine and settled in Los Angeles. Malone spent much of 2014 at The Denver Center, starring as Molly Brown in the world premiere of a wholly reimagined version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Other original Broadway and Off Broadway credits include June Carter Cash in Ring of Fire, Betty Jean in The Marvelous Wonderettes, and Alison in Bingo!. Regional theatre appearances include 9 to 5, The Break Up Notebook, Annie Get Your Gun, Les Miserables, and the world premiere of Sister Act. Malone has been part of Fun Home through most of its formative stages and was nominated for the 2015 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Alison Bechdel.
The reading and talk will be followed by a Q+A and book signing. Explore Booksellers will have books for purchase at the event.
Winter Words 2016 InfoPurchase Tickets

MEMBERS RECEPTION with Juan Felipe Herrera
2016-01-12 19:30 - 21:00
Aspen Words members are invited to join Juan Felipe Herrera for a reception with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the Gonzo Gallery following the public event.
In partnership with English in ActionSponsored by Aspen Peak
RSVP to Jamie Kravitz
Entry is complimentary for Aspen Words members. Ticket sales at the door for non-members will benefit English In Action.
