Denver’s slam poetry scene is booming, and it promises to explode next year, when the National Poetry Slam Championships come to Denver for the first time next August. Last year local poet Suzi Q. Smith, the executive director of Poetry Slam Inc., revealed that Denver had been named an anchor…
At the rest stop off Interstate 70’s Exit 90 — near the banks of the Colorado River, just before you enter the sleepy town of Rifle — a legendary drug-cartel enforcer known as Chopo drew his last breath, felled by a bullet in the neck. “Over there is where Chopo…
Summer is a great time to read — and to celebrate reading at book-related events around town, from signings to cons to literary bashes. Book them all, and find more literary activities in our online calendar. She Writes Press Book Tour Tattered Cover Aspen Grove 7 p.m. Tuesday, free She…
This summer has been too damn hot to do much of anything outside. That makes it the perfect time to stay inside, pour yourself a lemonade (maybe with some coconut rum), curl up by the air-conditioner (if you have one) and read a book. To make your session seem more…
What’s on your list for summer reading? A dark Peckinpah-esque page-turner? A celebration of national parks? Or both, with a new helping of Harry Potter to balance everything out? Here’s where to learn more. Donald Ray Pollock, The Heavenly Table Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 27 2009…
Learn more about some of Denver’s grittiest and most storied places, from Lakeside to East Colfax Avenue, at author events this week, or get some tips on how to make a history of your own, with help from a new service that helps people return to and finish projects begun…
Josh Viola, the award-winning author of The Bane of Yoto, founded Hex Publishers last year and promptly released a horror anthology, Nightmares Unhinged. This November, he’ll publish Cyber World, a steampunk collection. But in the meantime, he has another project: Words, a free online zine for junkies looking to load up…
David Schmader is a legend in Seattle, where he writes for alternative newspaper The Stranger and serves as creative director for an award-winning nonprofit writing center, the Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas. He’s also an essayist, performance artist, podcast guest (listen to him on Dan Savage’s 500th episode of the Savage Lovecast) and marijuana…
This week you can take in fabulous fiction, environmental activism or hard-driving slam poetry this week in bookstores and on stages along the Front Range. Word! Benjamin Hale, The Fat Artist & Other Stories Boulder Book Store 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 28 $5 voucher required If you like fiction that…
This summer you may be too swamped to remember your subconscious. If you don’t have time to dream, or if you can’t recall them, you can enroll in a service that will bring typed up dreams to your doorstep courtesy of local poet and bike messenger, Mathias Svalina, creator of…
Since 2003, Art from Ashes has been pushing empowerment for youth through the creative arts. In April, the local nonprofit’s Phoenix Rising was again named a finalist for the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. “We’re local, we’re small and…
Books are booming this week, with Governor John Hickenlooper signing copies of The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics at the Wynkoop Brewing Co. on May 26. But there are other noteworthy literary events at metro bookstores this week: You can go local with mystery author Christine Goff, travel…
Read all about it: This week you can delve into what it takes to get ahead, bury your head in a Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad mystery, compare high points in literature and art, or get your fill of a slam-poetry master. Keep reading for hightlights of Denver’s literary calendar. Angela…
Stephen Graham Jones is hungry. It’s early afternoon on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. Jones, in black boots and a black ponytail, sits in his cramped but cozy office, digging into a bag of fast-food burgers. The office has the rich, dusty smell of a used bookstore, which…
National Poetry Month brings big poetic voices — Paul Muldoon and Douglas Kearney — to Denver this week, and on the geek front, Felicia Day hits the Tattered Cover with her nerd-tastic memoir. Take your pick: An Evening With Poet Paul Muldoon Tivoli Brewing Company 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21…
This week on the Denver literary scene, you can get up close and personal with a world-class journalist and champion of the West, a writer whose work is infused with Zen philosophy, or a sci-fi author who appeals to video-gaming lifers. Grab your joystick— or your intellect — and check…
Colorado Humanities just announced the finalists for the 2016 Colorado Book Awards; they include Fig, the book by Sarah Elizabeth Schantz that we profiled last April. The winners will be revealed on May 21 in a ceremony at the Governor’s Residence at Boettcher Mansion. And the finalists are: Anthology Going Down…
Superheroes, comedians and poets of all ages lay their words on the line for audiences at local venues this week. Here’s where to catch a phrase in Denver. Lisa Yee: Wonder Woman at Super Hero High Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 29 Free Lisa Yee, a super…
Popular music held people together during Vietnam era of the ’60s and ’70s, both at home and on the battleground. But as veteran Doug Bradley knows, love songs and rock anthems were more than a backdrop to the war for soldiers on the front lines — they brought comfort and…
A gripping novel, memories of the music that galvanized soldiers in Vietnam, and a slam poetry showdown are all on the docket this week for bookworms and spoken-word fans in the Denver metro. Joyce Maynard, Under the Influence Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue 7 p.m. Monday, March 21 Free Famous for…
This week on the literary scene, you can cheer on youth competitors as they step up to the mike for dramatic poetry readings, learn to look at “different” kids with new eyes, or learn a thing or two about writing fiction from contemporary master Michael Ondaatje. Get out your datebook…
This week at bookstores along the Front Range, you can discover an epic fairytale for adults or a poetic tribute to Hollywood’s most tragic women stars; on other fronts, you can celebrate ladies who write at an International Women’s Day fundraiser or revisit an Academy Award-winning film as an introduction…
