CB’S Mountain Words Festival Is this weekend

Mountain Words returns with award winning local, regional and national authors. This year’s festival has something for everyone with almost 30 free events, 50 presenters, workshops and author talks.

The festival kicks off at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts on Thursday, May 22 at 5 p.m. with the Crested Butte Magazine launch party followed by a showing of the short documentary, The Storm in My Head, on Gunnison Valley bard, George Sibley. Made by local filmmaker, Mike Horn, the showing will include missives from familiar writers, Luke Mehall, Shelley Read and Telluride poet Art Goodtimes who will present the Karen Chamberlain Award.

Friday, May 23 at 6 p.m., Western Slope author Craig Childs will present his newest book, The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light. Childs identifies the night sky as “not an absence of light; it is the presence of the universe.” Join Childs as he bikes from the blinding lights of the Vegas Strip to the darkest spots in North America to ask: “What does it do to us to not see the night sky?”

On Saturday, May 24, readers can choose from 14 free events at the Center for the Arts. Beginning at 9 a.m., festival goers can choose between a live interview recording of CPR’s Colorado Matters with Craig Childs and Ryan Warner or a conversation in the Steddy Theater on the oncoming lithium boom titled, Where Will the Green Future Come From?

Throughout the day, readers can explore topics on the environment and wildlife, including a talk with Return of Wolves author Eli Francovich on the journey of conservationists and ranchers to reintroduce the gray wolf to the northwest. Unlike other festivals, Mountain Words is proud of the intimate author setting that allows for direct conversation between book lovers and writers. The festival book signing on Saturday in the Grace Atrium from 3:30 to 5, will be a prime spot for community, books and conversations.

Curious readers will love the conversation with Laura Krantz and Leah Sottile, author of the book, Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age. Sottile dives into the Colorado-based cult, Love Has Won as the basis for exploring the history of the New Age movement and the ideas of speaking with the dead, crystals, essential oils, tarot, Atlantis and remembered past lives. Sottile also identifies the rise in New Age thinking as it shadows political upheavals in American history.

Food and wine lovers will enjoy the talk between Manuel Aragon and James Beard Award winning author, Ted Genoways on his book, Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico. With extensive original research, including access to the secret archives of the Cuervo and Sauza families, Genoways follows the violent, unpredictable, and hugely profitable world of tequila through the story of its most successful maker. The first biography of Cuervo, Tequila Wars uncovers the history of the man who would forever change not only the business of tequila, but international relations between Mexico and the United States.

Fiction lovers will not want to miss Pulitzer Prize finalist Karen Russell in conversation with National Book Foundation Science + Literature Award winner, Ramona Ausubel. Russell is the author of Swamplandia!, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, Orange World, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, and Sleep Donation. Her newest book Antidote was hailed by NPR as an “American epic.”

Sunday’s festival offerings include 2025 James Beard Award winning author, Mark J. Easter in conversation with fellow climate food author, Thomas Kostigen and Laura Krantz. Together they will discuss Easter’s new book, Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos. Writers Jonathan Thompson and Jim O’Donnell will discuss his new book, Fountain Creek: Big Lessons from a Little River and how communities organize around water conservation and protection.

Sunday will also have Denver based author Hillary Leftwich and Steven Dunn talk about her new book, Saint Dymphna’s Playbook. Saint Dymphna’s Playbook is a playbook of survival, Leftwich allows the reader to bear witness, handing the reader a gift of vulnerability and what it means to be alive in a society where women vanish in more ways than one.

For a full schedule, free tickets, passes, information, student/senior pricing and more, please visit mtnwords.org or contact [email protected].