Events

May 4, 2025 |

Pikes Peak Writers Conference (Colorado Springs)


Pikes Peak Writers Conference is a 3-day fiction-writing conference for writers of all levels, indie and traditionally published, featuring a variety of craft and business workshops, acquiring editors/agents and well-known authors across a variety of genres. Theme: The Future Is Now, examining the present and future of publishing, and how to move your career forward.

Friday, May 2, 8 a.m. – Sunday, May 4, 2 p.m.at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Colorado Springs.

Keynote speakers are: Avery Flynn, John Gilstrap, David Slayton.
Registration Cost: $527 until  March 31 (10% off for members with coupon); $549 Apr 1 – Apr 25 (10% off for members with coupon)
More information including keynote speakers and featured authors at PPWC2025.

Address

1775 E Cheyenne Mountain Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80906

Click here to view this address on a Google Map
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May 5, 2025 | 6-8 p.m.

Literary Lecture by Auden Schendler (Crested Butte)


Auden Schendler will share his book, Terrible Beauty, a refreshing and compelling argument for the necessity of solving climate change, and how to do so meaningfully. Free.

Address

Center for the Arts Crested Butte, 606 6th St, Crested Butte

Click here to view this address on a Google Map
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May 6, 2025 | 6 p.m.

WCWF Writers Night (Grand Junction)


Presentation is “The Plot Thickens: Writing, Teaching, and Publishing Mystery Fiction” with Lyn Fraser. Fraser teaches a course in Crime Fiction for New Dimensions, and has been a faculty member at Texas A&M University and Colorado Mesa University. Free, registration requested.

Address

The Art Center, 1803 N. 7th St., Grand Junction.

Click here to view this address on a Google Map
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May 7, 2025 | 7 p.m.

Robin Walter on Tour for “Little Mercy” (Ft. Collins, Boulder, Denver)


Colorado poet Robin Walter’s debut book of poems, Little Mercy, was selected for the prestigious 2024 Academy of American Poets’ First Book Award.

Read our interview with the author and review here.

April 29, 6:30 p.m., with Ramona Ausubel at Boulder Bookstore, 1107 Pearl St., Boulder.

May 7, 7 p.m., with Rebecca Spiegel at Tattered Cover Bookstore, 2526 E. Colfax Ave., Denver.

Address

Varies

May 8, 2025 | 7-8:30 p.m.

Queer Creatives: Resource Sharing for LGBTQIA+ Writers (Zoom)


Learn about new opportunities and resources that will help you grow as LGBTQIA+ writers and creatives together. Hosted by Lighthouse Writers. Free for members, $5 for nonmembers.

Address

Zoom.

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May 15, 2025 | 7-8:30 p.m.

Writing in Color: Resource Sharing for BIPOC+ Writers (Zoom)


Learn about new opportunities and resources that will help you grow as BIPOC+ writers and creatives together. Sponsored by Lighthouse Writers. Free for members, $5 for nonmembers.

May 15, 7-8:30 p.m., Zoom
July 17, 7-8:30 p.m., location TBD
Aug. 21, 7-8:30 p.m., location TBD

Address

Zoom

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May 16, 2025 | 5-7 p.m.

Open Mic and Happy Hour by Denver Women’s Press Club


The Denver Woman’s Press Club has enhanced its offerings for journalists, fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights, poets, PR professionals and friends. It now hosts open mics once a month for anyone interested in exploring their writing interests. The Open Mic and Happy Hour enables you strut your stuff!
Next one is Friday, May 16, 5 to 7 p.m. in a safe place, regardless of your level of experience. Participants and readers, all of whom should be 18 years old or older, are expected to be mutually respectful. Doors open at 5 p.m.  Up to 12 writers will have five minutes to present. No RSVPs Just show up. While this is a free event with light refreshments, donations are gladly accepted. (The DWPC does not discriminate against any person or organization.)

Address

Denver Woman’s Press Club

1325 Logan St., Denver, CO 80203

Click here to view this address on a Google Map
May 17, 2025 | noon

RMFW Anthology Information Call (Streamyard)


Anthology editors Amy Armstrong and Deb Courtney will answer questions about the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2026 anthology, “True Story.” For anyone unable to attend, a recording of the call will be posted the next day on the RMFW website. Free; registration required to participate in the live call.

Address

Streamyard

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Briefly Noted


The Beckwith Dynasty: A Ranching Empire in Colorado’s Wet Mountain Valley

Courtney Miller
Filter Press
130 pages
Image

Once one of the largest cattle ranches in southern Colorado, Beckwith Ranch rises to its former glory in the concisely and neatly written, The Beckwith Dynasty: A Ranching Empire in Colorado’s Wet Mountain Valley by Courtney Miller. The author explores the history of a successful shipbuilding family who traveled west in 1869, and would eventually create through hard work, luck and a handful of shenanigans, an incredibly successful agricultural operation. Miller guides the reader through the origins of the ranch with stories of true cowboys and the Old West.

Beginning with a meager 160 acres, the family created a vast holding of land and livestock that would eventually become a thriving and majestic showplace of 8,800 acres with a very distinctive mansion of white clapboard and red roof. The fortunes of the Beckwith empire grew even more with the discovery of gold and silver in the nearby mountains. The mansion continued to expand as well, becoming a rambling complex with all the latest Victorian fineries accumulated from travels afar. Sophisticated and worldly travelers were entertained with unparalleled grandeur in the hinterlands of Colorado’s Wet Mountains.

As with any great western story about perseverance and triumph, the tale of the downfall of the family and the mansion is equally fascinating. Death, disease and estranged family relations all contributed to the passing of the heyday of the grand place.

Located on Hwy 69 near Westcliffe, Colorado, the site and venue is now listed on National Register of Historic Places. The obvious sincere and deep appreciation the author has for the ranch shines through in his writing. He packs a lot of Wet Mountain Valley history in this small volume with fine research and striking details. This book is a nice resource for any Colorado history buff. — Jeffery Payne