Personal Essay Workshop (Virtual Workshop)

Tuesdays, September 22 & September 29
both days 6-7:30 p.m. MT

Led by award-winning author Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, this generative workshop explored the powerful possibilities of memory, experience and reflection inherent in the personal essay. Through a close study of traditional and more experimental expressions of narrative, participants worked towards creating and workshopping original work that was nuanced, complex and effectively written. The group looked at work from writers like Maggie Nelson, Rebecca Solnit, Gloria Anzaldúa and others for inspiration. Participants were asked to look closely at their own lives to find the tremendous potential hidden in their stories.

Free

AWN – Third Thursdays Zoom Writing Meetups

Third Thursday of (almost) Every Month
7-8 p.m. MT

Writing is a solitary endeavor that can leave us feeling isolated. What has this meant for you in your writing life during this time when we’ve all been asked to isolate and stay at home?
The theme for these 60-minute informal gatherings is “Communing”. We ask that writers (that are comfortable) to share 1-3 ways that they’re nourishing their creativity and writing practice with the group. Feel free to bring a beverage!

Free

Self Publishing Zoom Workshop

May 20 | 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Zoom

Self-publishing workshop with editor, typographer and designer Barbara Scott (Be). Engage in a conversation about the process and design stages of taking your project from manuscript to finished book, via Amazon. This workshop is intended to answer writers’ questions about what it takes to self-publish a book.

Free

Practice Your Pitch

August 3 | 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Red Brick Center for the Arts

To help prepare for the upcoming agent, editor meetings at Aspen Autumn Words we are hosting “Practice Your Pitch” at the Red Brick Center for the Arts (Dance Studio space). This session is for AWN members who are interested in the art of talking about and selling their book, whether you’re just beginning to think about the publishing industry or have a meeting scheduled with an agent or editor at Autumn Words this fall. We’ll practice with one another, go over some tips and hear some input from Adrienne Brodeur, executive director of Aspen Words and former editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Members should reach out to Marie Chan (marie.chan@aspeninstitute.org) to indicate your interest and confirm your AWN membership is up to date.

Free

Agent/Editor Consultations at Autumn Words

October 1, 2021 | Individual appointments
The Gant in Aspen

Featuring representatives from the top publishing houses and literary agencies. Each year, AWN members receive information on how to sign up for a private consultation and how to submit their work.

Free

Presentation by Author Rachel Weaver

Thursday, January 20  @ 7:00 p.m. | Zoom Meeting 

Kick off the new year by joining AWN for a zoom meeting with author and editor Rachel Weaver as she shares tips on writing in 2022, and meet other local writers from the Roaring Fork Valley. You will also learn more about the exciting in-person programs AWN has planned for 2022, starting in February! This virtual meeting is open to anyone interested in AWN. All genres welcome.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Weaver is the author of the novel Point of Direction which Oprah Magazine named a Top Ten Books to Pick Up Now. She is on faculty at Regis University’s low-residency MFA program, and at Lighthouse Writers Workshop where she won the Beacon Award for Teaching Excellence in 2018. 

Free

In-Person Group Meeting: Writer Introductions and Optional Readings

Thursday, February 17 @ 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. | 
In-Person at Bonfire Coffee Company (433 Main Street, Carbondale, CO 81623)

Think Aspen Writers' Network might be a good fit for you?  Learn about the exciting in-person programs AWN has planned for 2022, weigh in on what you'd like to see from the program this year, and meet your fellow Roaring Fork Valley writers. Snacks, coffee, tea, beer, and wine will be provided. An interest poll will be conducted for future meeting topics.

After introductions, there will be short readings from interested members. Slots are limited.

To read at this meeting (not required), either email Mark Tompkins (MarkLTom@icloud.com) or sign up when you arrive. Readers can receive feedback from the group if desired; indicate your preference when you sign up.  

Non-AWN members are welcome to attend their first meeting to see if they want to join; however, all attendees must upload their proof of vaccination in advance on the ReturnSafe app

Free

State of the Publishing Industry

Thursday, March 17 @ 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. |
In-Person at Bonfire Coffee Company (433 Main Street, Carbondale, CO 81623)

Todd Doughty, SVP, Publicity and Communications at Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group will be in-person at this meeting to discuss the state of the publishing industry. This is an incredible opportunity to hear from a longtime publishing professional on the state of the industry. Moderated by Adrienne Brodeur, author and Executive Director of Aspen Words. Q&A will follow. Snacks, coffee, tea, beer, and wine will be provided. Snacks, coffee, tea, beer, and wine will be provided. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Todd Doughty is currently SVP, Publicity and Communications, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and has worked at Penguin Random House for more than two decades. A graduate of Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) and former bookseller, he lives with his partner in Westchester County, New York.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Adrienne Brodeur is the author of the memoir, “Wild Game,” which is in development for film. During her 15 years in the publishing industry, she founded the literary magazine “Zoetrope: All-Story” with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, was an acquiring editor at Harcourt and HMH Books, and served as a judge for the National Book Award, among other literary contests. Her essays have appeared in Glamour, O Magazine, The National, The New York Times, Vogue and other publications. She has been with Aspen Words since 2013.

This meeting is for AWN members only; interested writers are  welcome to join at the meeting.

All attendees must upload their proof of vaccination in advance on the ReturnSafe app

Craft workshop with Rachel Weaver

Thursday, April 14* @ 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. | 
In-Person at Bonfire Coffee Company (433 Main Street, Carbondale, CO 81623)
*Note: this is the 2nd Thursday of the month

Rachel Weaver will provide a short, targeted craft workshop for the first hour. The second hour will be personal writing time. Snacks, coffee, tea, beer, and wine will be provided. 

WORKSHOP DETAILS
20 Questions to Strengthen Your Novel or Memoir

This class will cover twenty important questions that will help you identify and strengthen weak points in your novel or memoir with regards to structure, characterization, arc, scene work and thematic elements. This is appropriate for writers of all genres at any point in the drafting process. Open to fiction and memoir writers of all levels.
This meeting is for AWN members only; interested writers are welcome to join at the meeting.

All attendees must upload their proof of vaccination in advance on the ReturnSafe app

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel is the author of the novel Point of Direction, which Oprah Magazine named a Top Ten Book to Pick Up Now. She is on faculty at Regis University’s low-residency MFA program, and at Lighthouse Writers Workshop where she won the Beacon Award for Teaching Excellence in 2018. 

Free

Practice Your Pitch Workshop 

Thursday, May 18 @ 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. |
In-Person at
Bonfire Coffee Company (433 Main Street, Carbondale, CO 81623)

This is a great opportunity to practice talking about your work. Even if you are not ready to pitch your book/essay/poem to publishers/agents, developing a pitch is a great way to determine what is most important in your writing project, which helps you with editing and even finishing the work. Snacks, coffee, tea, beer, and wine will be provided.

This meeting is for AWN members only; interested writers are  welcome to join at the meeting.

All attendees must upload their proof of vaccination in advance on the ReturnSafe app

Free

Member Readings

Thursday, June 16 @ 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. | 
In-Person at Bonfire Coffee Company (433 Main Street, Carbondale, CO 81623)

Short readings from members' work will fill the first hour.  Slots are limited. To read at this meeting (not required), either email Mark Tompkins (MarkLTom@icloud.com) signup when you arrive. Readers can receive feedback from the group if desired; indicate your preference when you sign up. The second hour will be personal writing time. Snacks, coffee, tea, beer, and wine will be provided.  

Non-AWN members are welcome to attend their first meeting to see if they want to join.

All attendees must upload their proof of vaccination in advance on the ReturnSafe app 

Free

Author Talk with July Writer in Residence Jamaica Baldwin

Thursday, July 21@ 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. |
In-Person at Bonfire Coffee Company (433 Main Street, Carbondale, CO 81623)

July writer in residence, Jamaica Baldwin will speak about her writing life, her upcoming book "Bone Language" and her current poetry project which traces the legacy of her female ancestors from the deep south to the west coast. As a bi-racial woman she is particularly interested in how the legacy of colonialism and the global plantation machine impacted her female ancestors on both sides of the racial divide. 

All attendees must upload their proof of vaccination in advance on the ReturnSafe app

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jamaica Baldwin (she/her) hails from Santa Cruz, CA by way of Seattle. Her first book, “Bone Language,” will be published by YesYes Books in 2023. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Prairie Schooner, World Literature Today, The Adroit Journal and The Missouri Review, among others. She is a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, winner of the 2021 RHINO Poetry editor’s prize and winner of the 2019 San Miguel de Allende Writers Conference Contest in Poetry. Her writing has been supported by Hedgebrook, Furious Flower and the Jack Straw Writers program. Jamaica is currently pursuing her PhD in English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a focus on poetry and Women’s and Gender Studies.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Lindsay DeFrates is a former freelance writer and current PR and Media Specialist with the Colorado River District. She lives in Glenwood Springs with her three kids and a husband, and when she is not dragging them all outside for the adventure du jour, she is revising her science fiction novel. www.lindsaydefrates.com

Free