-
The Aspen Words Literary Prize is a $35,000 annual award for an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.
-
The 2024 Winter Words season began with acclaimed, award-winning author Ann Patchett and her longtime literary friend, Elizabeth McCracken in conversation. Patchett returned to the Aspen Words stage and discussed her latest work, Tom Lake, a “Reese’s Book Club” selection. The novel is a meditation on young love, married love, and the lives parents have led before children. McCracken is the author of eight books including her most recent novel, “The Hero of This Book.”
-
Listen in for a spoken word poetry performance featuring teaching artists Natasha “natty” Carrizosa, Logan Phillips and Joaquín Zihuatanejo, who perform their original work. Carrizosa is a poet, writer, speaker, and creative writing teacher and the author of the poetry collections “mexiafricana,” “heavy light,” and “crown;” Phillips teaches at the University of Arizona and is the author of “Sonoran Strange;” and Zihuatanejo is the author of the poetry collection “Arsonist,” and the current poet laureate of Dallas, TX.
-
Listen in to this Aspen Words author talk with award-winning independent journalist and October 2023 Writer in Residence Miles W. Griffis, who discusses his writing about queer ecology and birding, including his focus on the local gray jay and a “brief history of avian drag.” Griffis is in conversation with local writer, Aspen Words Writer in Residence program partner and ACES board chair, Daniel Shaw.
-
Aspen Words executive director and author of the bestselling memoir “Wild Game” Adrienne Brodeur discusses her new novel, “Little Monsters,” a riveting story about Cape Cod, complicated families, and long-buried secrets. The talk was moderated by Elizabeth Nix.
-
Listen in for an author talk featuring Brittany Penner, an Indigenous Métis writer and family physician. Brittany was in conversation with Daniel Shaw, local writer and program partner.
-
2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize winner, Jamil Jan Kochai talks at the Pitkin County Library on his new book “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak." The talk was moderated by Aspen Public Radio’s Executive Director, Breeze Richardson.
-
Jean Chen Ho is the author of “Fiona and Jane,” named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and one of Time’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2022. Her writing appears in New York Times Magazine, The Cut, Electric Literature, Los Angeles Times, Georgia Review and elsewhere.
-
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. is a pioneer clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of posttraumatic stress. His work uniquely integrates developmental, neurobiological, psychodynamic, somatic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment.
-
Patrick Radden Keefe is an award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker magazine and author of the New York Times bestsellers “Empire of Pain” and “Say Nothing,” as well as two earlier nonfiction books: “The Snakehead” and “Chatter.” His most recent book is “Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks.”