Festival Recap

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2009 ROCKY MOUNTAIN WRITERS' FESTIVAL

The 2009 Rocky Mountain Writers’ Festival ran from Wednesday, April 8 to Saturday, April 11 and included four readings, a colloquium, and a book fair. The average attendance for each reading was well over forty people.

Opening Night of the Festival at the College Market was hosted by Cathy Peppers and featured festival founder Will Peterson, Susan Swetnam, Harald Wyndham, Leslie Leek and songs from Bob Picard.

Thursday night was reserved for up-and-coming writers and host Jeff Pearson, an English Major at ISU, entitled it "Come As You Are Night." The audience ranged from faculty, to famous visiting poets, and young people from all around the community. The crowd packed the renovated "Power House" on West Wyeth. Instead of a sitting on a hot seat, readers stood under a small hanging heat lamp and the audience lounged on old car seats or mis-matched chairs. The crowd lingered to discuss the readings on the wonderful balcony overlooking the park long after the official event ended.

Main Street Coffee hosted Friday's Celebration Night. Harald Wyndham served as host, and readers included former ISU English Department faculty member Michael Sowder (now teaching at Utah State), University of Nevada-Reno graduate Karen Homstad, poet and novelist Kevin Kiely, ISU faculty member and writer Michael Corrigan, and river-guide and writer Amil Quayle.

The Festival was honored to host Simon J. Ortiz as our 2009 Visiting Writer. An indigenous writer of Acoma Pueblo descent, Ortiz is a poet, fiction-writer, and essayist and has received award recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund Awards and the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence among many other honors. Professor Ortiz teaches at Arizona State University. On Saturday night, Snake Edmo opened the evening by reading a selection of his most recent poetry and journal entries. Professor Ortiz then read from a handful of his latest works of poetry.

Updated 01/10/10