Monday, April 30, 2012

2012 Colorado Book Award Finalists Readings



The 2012 Colorado Book Award Finalists Readings were held on April 19, at the Residence Inn Marriott in downtown Denver. Thank you to Colorado Humanities and their sponsors for hosting, and a special thank to Christine Goff for organizing this awesome event. Imagine me among such amazing talent on display. What an honor!

The evening was an adventure into the imaginations of twenty-two of the 39 finalists. Authors read to a packed Aspen Room of more than 75 people. We were treated to readings from three beautiful and engaging picture books. We heard drama and humor from three novels for young readers. I was third in line and read the scene in Letters to Juniper when the FBI shows up for the first time.



Nancy Oswald
followed with a funny scene about Maude the donkey from Rescue in Poverty Gulch, another finalist in the Juvenile Fiction category.



We also glimpsed hunting guide Allison Coil in her element on the Roan, and were introduced to traveling beekeeper John Miller. Poet Tony Moffeit even sang the blues. All of which made for an entertaining Act I.

In Act II we sampled art journaling, geography, history, and outer space. We traveled to the Serengeti to view the lions and visited a renovated stone cabin in Greece. We hiked a trail near Moab and ran past a bighorn sheep in Colorado National Monument. On our journey to the past we met Colorado’s first woman senator, a cowboy businessman, and a jar maker who pioneered aerospace in Colorado. We also peeked inside the bedrooms of 19th Century Russian aristocracy and a brutal Nazi couple who ran Buchenwald. I want to buy all the authors' fabulous books!
Click here for the list of the authors who read and their books.

A meet and greet with a book sale and book signing followed the author readings. Nancy Oswald and I signed our books for each other.



Even though our books are competing in the Juvenile Fiction category, Nancy and I shared the limelight. Nancy came all the way from Cotopaxi and I came over from Silt. We both agreed we would not have missed this for anything. What a thrill for two women writers from up the country.



Meet the Finalists and Winners at the Colorado Book Awards in Aspen, Colorado, on Friday, June 22, 1:00 p.m. at the Doerr-Hosier Center at the Aspen Meadows. For more information go to Colorado Humanities Colorado Book Awards.


4 comments:

  1. Wow it looks like a great event! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was great! The folks at Colorado Humanities could not be nicer or more supportive. Good people who love writers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That must have been awesome! Thank you for sharing a peak author experience with us. It gives hope!

    ReplyDelete