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Spoiler alert: This month is packed with literary festivals and events across the Centennial State. Chances are you probably won’t be able to check out all of them, so we devised a simple chart to help you determine which of these novel affairs suits you best.
Writer’s Roundtable with Cat Urbigkit | September 9
Author Cat Urbigkit lives on a working sheep ranch in Wyoming and spends much of her time penning books about agriculture and wildlife in the West. Stop by her workshop for writing insights and then head to the nearby Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials, one of the premier sheepdog competitions in the world. (Your $60 ticket includes access to both events.)
Kent Haruf Literary Celebration | September 22–24
This inaugural event honors one of Colorado’s most celebrated authors. Haruf was known for capturing the essence of small-town life, and you can get a taste for it in Salida, where he lived before his death in 2014. Over the weekend, Chalk Horse Theatre Company will present a theatrical adaptation of Haruf’s stories, workshops will explore his writing style, and his widow, Cathy, will host an intimate Q&A session.
Rocky Mountain Literary Festival | October 21
When it convenes next month, this Golden festival’s breakout sessions will feature presentations by and Q&As with well-known local writers: Colorado native Scott Gibson, author of the award-winning play Someone Else’s Life, and the Front Range’s Melanie Crowder, who pens spellbinding novels for middle-grade (ages eight to 12) and young adult readers.
ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival at Boulder | September 15–17
Indulge your worldly interests at the Boulder iteration of this international festival. You can attend free panel discussions and presentations by more than 70 authors, such as novelist Navtej Sarna (who also happens to be the current Indian ambassador to the United States) and Arctic explorer John Huston, whose expedition to the North Pole is documented in his 2011 book, Forward.
Lit Crawl Denver | September 1
Reading and socializing shouldn’t be mutually exclusive activities. At least that’s the idea behind this Tennyson Street book crawl. You’ll stop at bars along Tennyson Street, such as Berkeley Untapped and De Steeg Brewing, for readings from members of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop and live music from bands such as local folk-bluegrass group Pick and Howl.
Travel Lovers’ Book Club at Tattered Cover Book Store’s Colfax Avenue Location | September 11
The travel theme of this casual book club offers you a literary, instead of literal, escape. This month, take a trip to Rwanda with Columbia University professor Josh Ruxin’s memoir, A Thousand Hills to Heaven: Love, Hope, and a Restaurant in Rwanda, which explores the ability of foreign aid to end poverty worldwide.