Grand Mesa Writers' Symposium

The Grand Mesa Writers’ Symposium is more than an event—it’s a creative retreat held in the picturesque town of Cedaredge, perfectly situated beneath the breathtaking expanse of the Grand Mesa, the largest flattop mountain in the world. What makes GMWS unique is our focus on community. This is a welcoming place to convene with other writers and readers. Our presenters aren’t just speaking from the stage, they’re also active participants in the less formal social activities. Join us in building a community of word lovers on the Western Slope.

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• Featured Voices: Prepare to be inspired by a hand-selected trio of gifted authors, each with an authentic and compelling link to this very region. At the elegant Grand Mesa Arts & Events Center, they will open up conversations about their award-winning literature in stimulating large-group talks and focused, intimate sessions.

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• The Craft Defined: Dive deep into the mechanics of compelling storytelling. Our curated cadre of professional authors and experienced writing teachers will host practical, engaging workshops covering vital topics in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. You will gain the tools you need to succeed.

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Leave with a renewed sense of purpose, essential new skills, and a network of fellow creators. The magic of the Grand Mesa awaits your story!

Friday

Chill Switch Social Hour 6:00-7:00pm: Come meet and mingle with our Symposium speakers at this kickoff event. During the social hour, you will have a chance to informally meet with speakers and attendees, with light snacks and drinks.

Voices from the Grand Mesa Writer’s Symposium - 7:00-8pm:   Symposium speakers will do short readings from their works. 

Saturday

Workshops will cover a variety of topics for successful writing and publishing. See schedule for details.

Dinner discussions- 5:45-7:00  offsite restaurants

Sign up for a small dinner group to socialize and discuss the day’s work. Each group is a reserved table for six, with a designated conversation host (workshop instructors and designated friends of the Symposium). Signups are first come, first serve at check-in.

Keynote Event:  Writing with a Sense of Place - 7:30  (doors open at 7:00)

This headline event showcases our three keynote speakers — Paolo Bacigalupi, Kierstin Bridger and Craig Childs. Each author will read a selection from their latest books and offer insights into how they created these works. Christie Aschwanden will moderate a conversation between the writers about how sense of place informs their writing, the genesis of their featured creative works and the ins and outs of their creative process. 

A book signing will take place immediately following this event.

Sunday

Open Mic 9:00-10:45am  - Theater

Coffee and pastries available, doors open at 8:30am.

Sunday morning Closing Keynote: How to build a creative practice when life interferes - 11:00am

Featured Writers:

Craig Childs

Craig Childs is a hopeless tracker of wonder, a writer and wanderer living between Telluride and the Utah border. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, The New York Times, and he's been featured on Radiolab and NPR's Morning Edition. He has published more than a dozen books and is a contributing editor at Adventure Journal magazine. Childs writing has been praised by literary critics for vividly chronicling the

geography and history of the American Southwest and has received numerous accolades for his work, including the National Outdoor Book Award in 1998 and the Orion Book Award in 2013, and is a three-time recipient of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute's Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award (2007, 2012, and 2018).

Kierstin Bridger

Kierstin Bridger is a Colorado writer and teaching instructor who hikes, skis, forages, and lives in the San Juan Mountains near Telluride. She is the author of Demimonde (Lithic Press), the 2017 Women Writing the West's Willa Award. Her full collection is called All Ember (Urban Farmhouse Press). She was the Winner of the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize, the 2015 ACC Writer’s Studio award, the 9th Fortnight Poetry Prize, Second Place

Winner of Charter Oak Award for Best Historical Fiction for her World War I poetry, finalist for the Jeff Marks Poetry Contest, and was an Erbacce Prize for Poetry featured poet for her work on historical poems concerning an early 20th century Telluride prostitute and Jack Dempsey. Bridger was shortlisted for the Manchester Poetry Competition in the UK. She co-hosted Open Bard Poetry for seven years and co-created the podcast Poetry Voice with poet Uche Ogbuchi, but that was before memoir writing consumed her. Find more of her work in Poetry, December, Sugar House Review, Prairie Schooner, Twenty Bellows, and Painted Bride Quarterly. She earned her MFA at Pacific University. www.kierstinbridger.com

Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi is an internationally bestselling author of speculative fiction. His writing has appeared in WIRED Magazine, High Country News, Salon.com, OnEarth Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. His short fiction has been anthologized in various “Year’s Best” collections of short science fiction and fantasy, nominated for three Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards,

and won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best science fiction short story of the year. His short story collection PUMP SIX AND OTHER STORIES was a 2008 Locus Award winner for Best Collection and also named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. His debut novel THE WINDUP GIRL was named by TIME Magazine as one of the ten best novels of 2009, and also won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. Internationally, it has won the Seiun Award (Japan), The Ignotus Award (Spain), The Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis (Germany), and the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (France). ​His debut young adult novel, SHIP BREAKER, was a Michael L. Printz Award Winner, and a National Book Award Finalist, and its sequel, THE DROWNED CITIES, was a 2012 Kirkus Reviews Best of YA Book, A 2012 VOYA Perfect Ten Book, and 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist. ​He has also written ZOMBIE BASEBALL BEATDOWN for middle-grade children, about zombies, baseball, and, of all things, meatpacking plants. Another novel for teens, THE DOUBT FACTORY --a contemporary thriller about public relations and the product defense industry--was a both an Edgar Award and Locus Award Finalist. His novel THE WATER KNIFE is for adults and is a The New York Times Bestseller, a near-future thriller about climate change and drought in the southwestern United States. His latest book is NAVOLA, an epic fantasy inspired in part by the history and politics of the Italian Renaissance.

He can be found online at windupstories.com.

Sunday Morning Keynote

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Rosemerry will be the keynote speaker for the closing event on Sunday. She is a poet, teacher, speaker and writing facilitator who co-hosts Emerging Form, a podcast on creative process. Her daily audio series, The Poetic Path, is on the Ritual app. Her poems have appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, PBS News Hour, O Magazine, Washington Post’s Book Club, and Carnegie Hall stage. Her recent collections are All the Honey and The Unfolding. In 2024, she became poet laureate for Evermore, helping others explore grief and love through poetry. Since 2006, she’s written a poem a day, sharing them on her blog, A Hundred Falling Veils. One-word mantra: Adjust.