Mountain Words Literary Festival

Virtual Only Pass $100

Virtual Only:

Access to all virtual programming including workshops, panel discussion, readings and more.

See full lineup at gvlf.org. Details upon registration.

"Character and Action: Acting, Playwriting and Science in the 21st Century” with Paul Edwards

Friday, May 28, 2021

9 – 10:30 a.m. $30 or included in festival pass

This workshop is for writers with a continuing interest in the development of character through action arising from perceptions by that character. How might we as writers continue to develop rich, more fully formed characters in our respective genres, particularly in light of recent neurological research having to do with the nine senses, the origins of action, and how human beings navigate their environment?

At the Gunnison Arts Center.

“The Physical Stuff of Your Life” writing workshop with Pam Houston

Friday, May 28, 2021

10 – 12 p.m. $30 or included in festival pass

In this generative workshop we will focus on all the ways the sensory details that surround us—the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures—can give us access to that much more elusive interior landscape we are always trying to access when we write. If we write those details all the way down to the bone.

At the Center, Crested Butte.

"Risk & Play: Flirting with the Unknown” workshop with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Friday, May 28, 2021

1 - 3 pm $30 or included in festival pass

Risk & Play: Flirting with the Unknown
Most writing advice is meant to be dismantled, and in this playshop, we take on the adage “Write what you know.” Really? If we are to serve the writing, we must let it know more than we do. Join poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer in letting curiosity and uncertainty drive our writing into fresh, resonant new regions—places we couldn’t possibly predict. That’s right. Writing for pleasure. Finding rules and breaking them.

Play is a secret weapon for meeting failure, vulnerability, uncertainty and humility. Play helps us fall in love with the world, and with words, too. We’ll read poems that make us laugh, shake our heads, open our hearts and show up, and then in that vein, we’ll write. Gravity, of course, is also invited. There’s always a dark underbelly. Let’s tickle it.

At the Gunnison Arts Center

Writers in Residence Read + Reception

Friday, May 28, 5 - 6pm

Join us for a celebratory reading as the 2021 Mountain Words Writer-in-Residence read from work produced during their months-long residency in Crested Butte. Chris La Tray, Chelsey Johnson, Lee Anderson and Adam Valen Levinson. Drinks and bites included. In the Center's Steddy Theater.

"Faith and Philosophy: The Deep Beliefs of Your Characters" with Nick Arvin

Saturday, May 29, 9 - 10:30 am

Characters who want something and who have something at stake in a story are more interesting characters -- but what if you need to know what a character believes, at the deepest level, before you can know what they really want and what they truly have at risk? In this seminar we will look at how to deepen our characters by forcing ourselves to explicitly examine and describe our characters' beliefs in terms of the timeless questions of faith and philosophy, and to work through how those beliefs provide a foundation for the wants and stakes that will propel a story. Come prepared for in-class discussion and short writing exercises.

Panel: “Writing the Intersection and Divisions Between Rural and Urban America”

Saturday, May 29, 3 - 4 pm

As part of the Mountain Words Literary Festival

With Rachel Monroe, Steven Dunn, Nick Bowlin, Chelsey Johnson in discussion with Brian Calvert.

"Book Length Considerations" with Laura Pritchett

Sunday, May 30, 9 - 12 pm

At the Center

Book Length Considerations (a.k.a. Actually Thinking Through Your Book and Thus Save Supremely Important Things Such As Time, Energy, and Backaches from Typing)

Half-day workshop with Laura Pritchett

"Audio Storytelling; education, resources, and the industry" with Laura Krantz & Christopher Biddle

Sunday, May 30 2021

10 am – 12 pm $30 or included in festival pass

This workshop is for print writers and journalists who want to try their hand at audio reporting and podcasting. Journalist, editor, and producer, Laura Krantz, and KBUT morning show host and journalist, Christopher Biddle will highlight the differences between the two mediums, provide tips and things to think about when writing audio scripts, and share useful resources and avenues for submitting your work.

We'll start locally with public radio stations like KBUT, and work our way up to the major players in both radio and podcasting. As part of the program, students should be prepared to draft up a short audio script and share with the group. At Western Colorado University.

"Author Deep Dive: Jhumpa Lahiri" with Candace Nadon

Sunday, May 30, 1 - 2 pm

At the Center

Jhumpa Lahiri's stories - from those contained in her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut collection, Interpreter of Maladies, to her most recent New Yorker story, "Casting Shadows," are quietly transformational and manage to be both micro and macrocosms of modernity. Lahiri's work offers a master class in fiction craft, and in this workshop, we'll discuss what we can learn as writers from Lahiri's technique. We'll specifically look at Lahiri's use of point of view to drive narrative in Lahiri's stories "Hell-Heaven," "Year's End," and "Casting Shadows," and we'll conclude with exercises for practicing the craft techniques we discuss. ​Reading Lahiri's stories prior to the workshop is recommended but not required. For copies of the stories, email brooke@crestedbuttearts.org

Individual Day Tuition - purchase the days you want to attend

Set your wild mind free in this fun and supportive week-long creative writing workshop! Learn how to write inspired and unique poetry, fiction, drama, and creative non-fiction while exploring the wild nooks and crannies of Crested Butte. This annual summer workshop is designed for rising middle schoolers and early high school to take their writing to a new level of skill, confidence, self-expression, and joy. Taught by award-winning teacher and writer Shelley Read, this is an opportunity not to be missed! Sign up for the whole week, a few days, or just one day. Space limited. Workshops will be held outdoors with all social distancing protocols and safety followed.

Instructor:  Shelley Read
When: Monday June 21 - 25
Time:  9:30 am - 1:00 pm
Where: Meet at the Center
Cost:  $130 for the week or $30 per class

Acrylic Painting with Beth Zink

Choose one day or come to both!

Tuesday, July 20: Aspen Trees
Wednesday, July 21:  Rocks & Streams