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Contact Jennifer Long at 303-894-7951 x 21 or long@coloradohumanities.org

Poetry and Fiction Finalist Reading May 14

The 2009 Colorado Book Awards Poetry and Fiction finalists will read at Baur's Italian Restaurant on May 14 at 5:30 p.m. This event is sponsored by Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book and CU-Denver's English Department. It is free and open to the public. Baur's is located at 1512 Curtis Street, Denver, CO.

Colorado Center for the Book Director Josephine Jones and former Colorado Book Award winner Teague Bolen will introduce the finalists.

The 2009 Poetry and Fiction finalists are:

Wayfare by Pattiann Rodgers

ImageDenise Levertov has called acclaimed poet Pattiann Rogers “a visionary of reality, perceiving the material world with such intensity of response that impulse, intention, meaning, interconnections beyond the skin of appearance are revealed.” In her new collection, Rogers takes the reader on an exploration of human endeavor. Full of color and action, wonder and fear, these poems investigate, reflect upon, and create experiences relative to music, art, and theater, as well as to the universe and its creatures, large and small. They are distinguished by the penetrating vision and avid imagination that have made Rogers one of today’s most outstanding poets.

Pattiann Rogers is the author of eight poetry collections. She has been the recipient of two NEA Grants, Guggenheim and Lannan Fellowships, and five Pushcart Prizes, among other awards.

Holding Three Things at Once by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

ImageIn Holding Three Things at Once, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer leads us softly, surely toward home. These pages provide fresh access to the miracles of daily living: the gestures of the seasons, the contentment hanging on the clothesline with clean sheets, the tender, shuffling dances of the stars.

Poet, writer and organic fruit grower Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer uses poetry to help people fall more deeply in love with the world and their lives. She was recently reappointed Poet Laureate of San Miguel County.

A Murmuration of Starlings by Jake Adam York

ImageA Murmuration of Starlings elegizes the martyrs of the civil rights movement, whose names are inscribed on the stone table of the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Collectively, they consider the violence of a racist culture and the determination to resist that racism. York considers the testimony in the trial of J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant for the murder of Emmet Till in 1955, and recreates events of Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Throughout the collection, an invasion of starlings images the racial hatred and bloodshed. "While the 1950s spawned violence, the movement in the early 1960s transformed the language of brutality and turned the violence against the violent," says York.

Jake Adam York is an associate professor of English at the University of Colorado–Denver. His first book of poems, Murder Ballads, was published in 2005. His poems have appeared in such journals as Blackbird, Diagram, Greensboro Review, Gulf Coast, New Orleans Review, Shenandoah, and Southern Review. York was raised in northeast Alabama.


Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice

ImageOrange Mint and Honey tells the story of how a late bloomer finally blossoms — with the help of the late Nina Simone, a teenage boyfriend and the mother she thought she would never forgive. This #1 Denver Post bestseller, set in Park Hill, was optioned by Lifetime and received the 2009 First Novel Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

Carleen Brice is a two-time finalist for the Colorado Book Award in nonfiction. She recently turned to fiction. Her second novel Children of the Waters (One World/Ballantine) will be released in July. She is also a blogger and gardener in Denver.

Home Pool: Stories of Fly Fishing and Lesser Passions by Bruce Ducker

ImageThe sixteen fishing stories in this memorable collection are great entertainment. Set in a variety of locales, these short stories feature a mix of flyfishers as diverse as we can be. There is the story about an exclusive trout club haunted by a beautiful female flasher. There is the tale of a Hasidic angler who sees into the hearts of his fishing partners. Read the saga of how a crusty old fly-fishing Coloradoan confronts the onslaught of affluence taking over his mountain.

Bruce Ducker was born in New York City and now lives in Colorado. He has practiced corporate law for most of his career and is the founding partner of a Denver law firm. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in such journals as The Yale Review, Poetry, Commonwealth, and the Literary Review.

The Song of Jonah by Gene Guerin

ImageUnjustly accused in a minor sex scandal, Fr. Jon Armitage, a charismatic but brash young priest accustomed to hobnobbing with the upper crust of New England society, is exiled to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in the early 1960s. There, in the bishop’s office, he discovers mediocrity and corruption to match anything from his previous situation and is assigned to the remote parish of Nueve Niños. Squatting at the edge of an ancient crater lake on the barren plains of northeastern New Mexico, Nueve Niños, with its long-standing reputation for mistreating its pastors, is an alien world that will prove his ultimate testing ground. Through his slow, often reluctant immersion into the lives of the villagers, Fr. Jon eventually gains insight into himself and his ultimate calling.

Gene Guerin was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1938 and educated in Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and Rome, Italy. Guerin is a freelance writer of documentaries and corporate videos for which he has received numerous national awards. His work includes an award-winning, hour length Spanish-language documentary on Pope John Paul’s visit to Colorado for World Youth Day 1993. Guerin also hosted a public service half-hour program featuring Hispanic issues on Denver’s Channel 2 in the 1970s. Most recently, he has been a writer for a non-profit organization called Cooperative for Education, which supplies textbooks and installs libraries and computer labs for the indigenous children of Guatemala’s highlands.

People of the Whale by Linda Hogan

ImageRaised in a remote seaside village, Thomas Witka Just marries Ruth, his beloved since infancy. But an ill-fated decision to fight in Vietnam changes his life forever: cut off from his Native American community, he fathers a child with another woman. When he returns home a hero, he finds his tribe in conflict over the decision to hunt a whale, both a symbol of spirituality and rebirth and a means of survival. In the end, he reconciles his two existences, only to see tragedy befall the son he left behind.

Linda Hogan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Mean Spirit. Her other honors include an American Book Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

ImageBorn mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life on his family’s farm in remote northern Wisconsin, where they raise and train an extraordinary breed of dog. But when tragedy mysteriously strikes, Edgar is forced to flee into the vast neighboring wilderness, accompanied by three yearling dogs. Edgar comes of age in the wild, struggling for survival, until the day he is forced to choose between leaving forever and returning home to learn the truth behind what has happened.

David Wroblewski grew up in Wisconsin, near the forest setting for the novel. For years, his family owned and operated Cary Valley Kennels. David earned an MFA in Creative Writing in 1998 from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. This is his first novel.

2009 Colorado Book Awards to be held in Aspen June 22

The 18th annual Colorado Book Award winners in these and ten other categories will be presented on Monday, June 22 at 3:30 pm at the 33rd Annual Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival (June 21-26, 2009). Aspen Summer Words has been the place to be for anyone with a passion for the written word. One of the nation’s “Top Ten Literary Gatherings” (USA Today), this 6-day celebration of words, stories and ideas consists of a morning writing retreat, an afternoon literary festival, and professional consultations with agents and editors, bringing some of the world’s most interesting and engaging literary talent to Aspen.

"I am excited about helping Colorado writers find a place on the world literary map at this year's Aspen Summer Words Festival," says Josephine Jones, Director of Programs and Center for the Book.

A book signing and reception for Colorado Book Award finalists and winners will follow the awards event.

To jump-start your summertime plans in Aspen the week of June 21- 26, visit www.coloradohumanities.org.
2009 Colorado Book Award Finalists

Biography
Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R. Borneman, Random House
The Principled Politician: The Ralph Carr Story by Adam Schrager, Fulcrum Publishing
Rabbit Creek Country: Three Ranching Lives in the Heart of the Mountain West by Jon Thiem with Deborah Dimon, University of New Mexico Press

Children’s Literature
M Is for Mischief: An A to Z of Naughty Children by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, Dutton Children’s Books
Max Goes to Jupiter: A Science Adventure with Max the Dog by Jeffrey Bennett, Nick Schneider, Erica Ellingson, illustrated by Michael Carroll, Big Kid Science
There Was a Man Who Loved a Rat and Other Vile Little Poems by Gerda Rovetch, illustrated by Lissa Rovetch, Philomel Books/Penguin Group

Creative Nonfiction
Spring’s Edge: A Ranch Wife’s Chronicles by Laurie Wagner Buyer, University of New Mexico Press
Bicycling Beyond the Divide: Two Journeys into the West by Daryl Farmer, University of Nebraska Press
Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land by Amy Irvine, North Point Press/Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
Travels in Place: A Journey into Memory Loss by Christiane W. Griffin-Wehr, Robert D. Reed Publishers

Fiction/Literary
Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice, One World/Ballantine Books
Home Pool: Stories of Fly Fishing and Lesser Passions by Bruce Ducker, Stackpole Books
The Song of Jonah by Gene Geurin, University of New Mexico Press
People of the Whale by Linda Hogan, W.W. Norton
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, Ecco

General Nonfiction
Green Home Improvement: 65 Projects that will Cut Utility Bills, Protect Your Health, Help the Environment by Daniel D. Chiras, RS Means/Reed Construction Data
Storey’s Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle and Pigs by Carol Ekarius, Storey Publishing, LLC
Colorado Organic: Cooking Seasonally, Eating Locally by Jennifer Olson, written by Cecily Cullen and Mindy Sink, Jennifer Olson Photography

Genre Fiction
Wild Inferno by Sandi Ault, Berkley/Penguin
Breath and Bone by Carol Berg, ROC/NAL Penguin Group
Fireweed: A Woman’s Saga in Gold Rush America by Carolyn Evans Campbell, Georgetown Editions/Xlibris Corporation
A Death in Gascony by Sarah D’Almeida, Berkley/Penguin
Ex-Kop by Warren Hammond, Tor Books
Soul of Fire by Sarah A. Hoyt, Bantam Spectra
A Stranger’s Game by Joan Johnston, Pocket Books Hardcover/Simon & Schuster
Come with Me to Babylon by Paul M. Levitt, University of New Mexico Press
A Thousand Veils by D.J. Murphy, Lulu Press, Inc.
Neptune’s Chariot by Irv Sternberg, Starmount Press/Outskirts Press

Health and Well-Being
Health Is Simple, Disease Is Complicated: A Systems Approach to Vibrant Health by James Forleo, North Atlantic Books
Unexpected Intimacy: Everyday Connections that Nourish the Soul by Sarah Gabriel, Great Room Press
Notes from the Waiting Room: Managing a Loved One’s End-of-Life Hospitalization by Bart Windrum, Axiom Action

History
Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War by Thomas G. Andrews, Harvard University Press
Where A Hundred Soldiers Were Killed: The Struggle for the Powder River Country in 1866 and the Making of the Fetterman Myth by John H. Monnett, Ph.D., University of New Mexico Press
Pioneer Cemeteries: Sculpture Gardens of the Old West by Annette Stott, University of Nebraska Press

Juvenile Literature
The No-No Boys: Home-Front Heroes by Teresa R. Funke, Bailiwick Press
Herby’s Secret Formula by Sue C. Hughey, Associated Arts Publisher
The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish by Claudia Mills, Farrar Straus & Giroux

Pictorial
Colorado’s Wild Horses by Claude Steelman, Wildshots, Inc.
Colorado Scenic Byways: Taking the Other Road by Jim Steinberg and Susan J. Tweit, Portfolio Publications
Democratic National Convention 2008: Obama’s Mile High Moment, The Denver Post, Fulcrum Publishing

Poetry
Wayfare by Pattiann Rogers, Penguin Group - Viking Adult
Holding Three Things At Once by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Turkey Buzzard Press
A Murmuration of Starlings by Jake Adam York, Southern Illinois University Press

Young Adult Literature
The Trials of Kate Hope by Wick Downing, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Seize the Story: A Handbook for Teens Who Like to Write by Victoria Hanley, Cottonwood Press, Inc.
Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

For more information, please contact Kris Rabida, Administrative Assistant, 303 894 7951 x20, rabida@coloradohumanities.org or visit coloradohumanities.org.