The Cortez Public Library, Telluride’s Wilkinson Public Library, and Bayfield’s Pine River Library have joined forces to bring an array of Four Corners authors to the area over the next six months in the new Amazing Authors Tour.
In June, Cortez hosted “The Poetry Corner Presents,” and presented three local finalists for the Colorado Book Awards in June. From the successes of these well-attended, intriguing, and spirited events, The Amazing Authors Tour was born.
This time, the three regional libraries present a slew of nationally known authors who reside and write in the Four Corners area.
The mission of the Amazing Authors Tour is to showcase engaging, amusing, fascinating and compelling regional writers from the Southwest who celebrate the cultural diversity of its inhabitants, communities and landscapes. These events are free and open to everyone.
The series began in October and featured Hopi elder Leroy Lewis and local author Lorna LaDage. November brought out vegan chef, author, and wellness coach Tess Challis in a cooking class. December is a month off, but more authors are on tap starting in January. All events take place at 6 p.m. Brochures are available at the public libraries.
From the headwaters
Pam Houston comes from the mountains near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. She is an author, speaker and educator and has written a long list of books including “Contents May Have Shifted,” “Cowboys Are My Weakness,” “Waltzing the Cat,” “Sight Hound” and “A Little More About Me.”
Houston is in Bayfield on Jan. 12; Cortez on Jan. 13; and Telluride on Jan. 14.
Comedy Night
David Feela, who writes and lives in Cortez, has monthly columns in The Four Corners Free Press and The Durango Telegraph. His mostly funny books include “Thought Experiments,” “The Home Atlas” and “How Delicate These Arches.”
John Christian Hopkins is a Narragansett journalist, author, poet, teacher, humorist and public speaker from Arizona. His writings are poignant, funny and sometimes irreverent. His novels include “Twilight of the Gods,” “Two Guns” and “Rhyme or Design: Narragansett Poetry.”
‰ Feela and Hopkins are in Bayfield on Feb. 9; Cortez on Feb. 10; and Telluride on Feb. 11.
Flying high
Steph Davis is an accomplished free soloist and top wingsuit base jumper. She has many “firsts” and “seconds” and writes all about her life and her adventures in two memories, “High Infatuation” and “Learning to Fly.”
‰ Davis is in Bayfield on March 8; cortez on March 9; and Telluride on March 10.
National poetry month
Luci Tapahonso, the inaugural poet laureate of the Navajo Nation, is also a professor of English and director of creative writing at the University of New Mexico. Her 1993 collection “Saanii Dahataal” (The Women are Singing) brought her to national prominence.
Tapahonso is in Bayfield on April 5; Cortez on April 6; and Telluride on April 7.
Rocking the boat
Kevin Fedarko, author of “The Emerald Mile,” a true tale of the fast boat ride down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon during the flood of 1983. His work has appeared in Esquire, National Geographic Adventure and has been anthologized in the Best American Travel Writing in 2004 and 2006.
‰ Fedarko is in Bayfield on May 17; cortez on May 18; and Telluride on May 19.