Mountain Words Festival set to impress

The community is invited to take part in all the literary magic that Mountain Words has to offer with more than 20 free events. The weekend of conversation and thought begins with a showing of the award-winning documentary, Come See Me in the Good Light about former Colorado Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson, who recently passed away. The film touches on her fearless career and her cancer battle. The showing is scheduled for Thursday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m. Living Journeys will be on hand to share information with the community.
For community members that recall her time in Crested Butte at KBUT, Mitzi Rapkin will have a live recording of her podcast, First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing. She has amassed almost 600 episodes, with listeners all over the world. She will interview Emily Rapp Black, author of the book, I Would Die If I Were You: Notes on Art and Truth Telling.
Author David Baron will be on both ends of the valley for his appearance at Mountain Words. Beginning with a talk about his previous book, American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World at the Gunnison Library on Friday, May 22 at 6 p.m. Free copies of the book are available from both library locations. Baron follows up the next day with a talk at the Center for the Arts for his new book, Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America.
Saturday begins a full day of free programming in the Steddy Theater. Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner gets things going with Pulitzer Prize Finalist Megan-Kate Nelson for her new book, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier. Originally from Littleton, CO, Nelson tackles the complicated history of the American West that she continues to revisit in her own life. The Boston Globe writes, “One thing she’s certain of: Much of what passed for western history for many years was rooted in carefully constructed mythology.”
For anyone in the community that enjoys science fiction, Marvel movies and genre storytelling, author Benjamin Percy, writer for Marvel Comics, will be in conversation with bible scholar and Tiktoker Dan McClellan to discuss their shared love of comics and how the medium has shaped both their personal and professional lives.
Celebrated novelist Megha Majumdar and Colorado author Nina McConigley will be in conversation in two sessions, each for their own respective work. Finalist for the 2025 National Book Award, an Oprah’s Book Club pick, Time Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2025 and long listed for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, Majumdar’s A Guardian and Thief has been at the top of reading lists and festival attendees will get a chance to take a closer look at her work. Nina McConigley has seized the attention of Colorado readers and theater goers with her debut story collection, Cowboys and East Asians making its leap to the stage at the Denver Center for Performing Arts. McConigley and Majumdar will talk about her breakout novel, How to Survive a Postcolonial Murder.
The highlight of this year’s festival will be legendary author Terry Tempest Williams. Known for her seminal work, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, Williams has long been an advocate for wild spaces and wildlife. This visit to Mountain Words heralds the arrival of her newest book, The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary. Attendees are asked to visit mtnwords.org to RSVP for this free event. Due to Terry’s limited time, there will not be a signing line for her appearance. For those interested in a signed copy of Williams’ work, Townie Books will have freshly signed copies of her work. If you have already purchased The Glorians from Townie Books and would like it signed, please drop it off at the bookstore tables at the Center no later than 6 p.m. on Friday. The bookstore will be unable to accommodate signing of previous books that were not purchased recently from Townie Books. Williams is joined by festival favorite and science journalist Ben Goldfarb, known for his books Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter and Crossings: How Road Ecology Has Shaped Our Planet. Goldfarb will continue the discussion on wildlife with Patagonia author Hillary Rosner for her new book Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World.
Crested Butte’s most recently minted novelist, Cosmo Langsfeld, will be joined by his editor Harry Kirschner and writer Dane Bahr to discuss their books and the intricacies of the publishing landscape. Beloved author Shelley Read will kick off Sunday’s free programming with a discussion of the novel Skylark with writer Paula McLain. McLain is widely recognized for her novels The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun, and Love and Ruin.
Poets from all over the valley will have several excellent opportunities to hear poetry during the festival. Suzi Q. Smith, Karen Terrey, Wendy Videlock and Erica Reid will join forces to celebrate their distinct voices together as writers. National Book Award Finalist Tiana Clark will be in conversation with University of Colorado poet, memoirist and translator Rajiv Mohabir. Clark’s poems came to national attention during the Black Lives Matter movement and Mohabir, a poetry judge for Old Dominion, selected Minneapolis protestor Renee Good’s poetry for an award. Their conversation will highlight the necessity for poetry in a world of hostility.
Visiting author Garrett Peck will take time during the festival to treat festival goers to an after hours talk outside the Center for the Arts on Saturday May 23 at 9 p.m. to discuss the stars. Meet Peck at the entrance to the Center then walk to the stargazing spot. Bring a jacket and blanket!
Sunday’s events include a live recording of Laura Krantz’ podcast with author of the memoir, Hotshot: A Life On Fire, River Selby. The San Francisco Chronicle praised her book as “absorbing” and described it taking “readers along the seven-year journey they spent fighting raging fires in the West, including four years on the most elite — almost entirely male — “hotshot” crews that conduct the initial attack on extreme fires.”
Sunday will also highlight books wrestling with the culture around Christianity today. Beginning with scholar of the bible and digital creator Dan McClellan, with millions of views and followers, attendees can listen to how he came to write his book, The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues. Later, Denver-based journalist Josiah Hesse will discuss his book On Fire for God: Fear, Shame, Poverty, and the Making of the Christian Right – a Personal History. Both events will be anchored by Gunnison Congregational Church Pastor Ian Wrisley.
The festival begins on May 21 and ends May 24 and takes place at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts unless otherwise noted. The full schedule of events is available at mtnwords.org. For questions please contact Arvin Ram at literary@crestedbuttearts.org.