Box office Aspen Show Tickets | www.aspenshowtix.com | 970.920.5770
Festival Pass $200 | Single tickets $20
Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival Schedule
All festival events are held at the Aspen Meadows Resort in the Doerr Hosier building. The Aspen Meadows Resort is located at 845 Meadows Rd.
Monday // June 20
2:30PM // BACKYARD LIT // JOE HENRY + ANTHONY ZERBE
Meet newcomer Joe Henry, Random House's latest darling, who hails from our own Woody Creek, home of the late legendary writer Hunter S. Thompson. He will share stories from his new collection Lime Creek with lively readings by his friend, and Hollywood star, Anthony Zerbe.
4PM // VOICES IN MY HEAD // ASSAF GAVRON + COLUM MCCANN
Masters of the character-driven novel, Colum McCann and Assaf Gavron, will compare notes on telling a single story through diverse voices and harnessing the idiosyncrasies of multiple characters - each with their own agendas, neuroses, and destiny - into a seamless tale.
5:30PM // INSIDE JOB // MONA ELTAHAWY + FIROOZEH DUMAS When your life experiences give you both insider cred and outsider status, what kind of perspective do you bring to the page? Get the skinny from two expat writers who are straddling countries and cultures while writing about their own participation in the story. Egyptian-American Mona Eltahawy is a new breed of journalist who covers demonstrations that she sometimes participates IN, while Iranian-American Firoozeh Dumas is a memoirist who crafts humorous stories from her life lived.
AfterWORDS OPEN MIC Hotel Jerome | 330 E Main Street | FREE
Do you have a good joke? Are you itching to read your latest poem or strum a tune on your guitar? Do you secretly sing in the shower or moonlight in a late night cabaret? Join us at the J Bar in the Hotel Jerome for an evening of comedy, music, and spoken word. Artists of all guises will open their treasure trove of talents in this impromptu night of live entertainment. No experience necessary. Audience members and bar flies welcome.
Tuesday // June 21
2:30PM // PUBLISHING PITFALLS // KENDRA HARPSTER, ANDREW MILLER ,KATHLEEN ANDERSON, ANDRA MILLER
This panel of publishing heavyweights from New York’s top houses and agencies will steer you clear of the rookie moves and offer up a playbook of dos and don’ts to get your writing into the hands of readers.
4PM // REVOLUTIONARY LITERATURE // REZA ASLAN + [DANIYAL MUEENUDDIN]
On the streets of Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, and beyond, literature has become a tool of revolution and poems are being used as rallying cries for the marginalized and dispossessed. Join Reza Aslan in conversation with [Daniyal Mueenuddin] and see literature cast as the mirror that reflects the ills and failures of society, while the poet becomes the journalist, historian, and cultural critic.
5:30PM // ALTER EGOS // RABIH ALAMEDDINE + DANIYAL MUEENUDDIN + ASSAF GAVRON
In the tradition of doctor-poet William Carlos Williams, three authors who hyphenate their time between writing and another fully engaged profession (in this case, artist Rabih Alameddine, video game programmer and pop singer/songwriter Assaf Gavron, and farmer Daniyal Mueenuddin) discuss what it means to have creative and professional alter egos.
Wednesday // June 22
1PM // HOW'D YOU DO IT? // DENNIS VAUGHN + PRISCILLA SHORT + NANCY STOHLMAN
Three newly published Aspen Summer Words alums share their long, sometimes arduous, and ultimately successful routes to getting published. Denny Vaughn, Priscilla Short, and Nancy Stohlman will dish the dirt on agents, self-publishing, and shameless self-promotion.
.....................................................................................
2:30PM // REBEL WRITERS // ERICA JONG + NIKKY FINNEY
Join Nikky Finney and Erica Jong, two ground-breaking poets whose ability to write with conviction and courage about taboo subjects, as well as tell deeply personal stories about themselves - even as society at times would have preferred for them to keep quiet - has made them into role models for the next generation of powerful women writers.
4PM // SOCIAL MEDIA + THE WRITER // MONA ELTAHAWY + RAKESH SATYAL + ERIN MALONE
A predominantly online journalist, Mona Eltahawy, an editor-cum-novelist, Rakesh Satyal, and an agent from the meg-giant publisher WME, Erin Malone, will share their insights into how to ride social media’s powerful wave to cultivate new audiences, make a brand for yourself, and amplify your writing.
6 pm
STUDENT SOCIAL All ASW Students
Molly Gibson Lodge | 101 W Main Street
Aspen Summer Words students are invited to this social gathering at the Molly Gibson Lodge. Light fare will be provided, along with a cash bar.
Thursday // June 23
2:30PM // WALK THE LINE // DEREK GREEN + ELINOR LIPMAN + RON RASH
Fact and fiction are strange bedfellows of the author. Fiction writers, especially, are dared to follow the old adage, “write what you know,” but not what you have lived. Three fiction pros, Ron Rash, Elinor Lipman, and Derek Green, share how they walk the fine, and sometimes treacherous, line between imagination and experience.
4PM // TRANSLATING THE MIDDLE EAST // PETER COLE + ROB SPILLMAN
For all the attention they receive, the cultures of the Middle East seem to resist understanding in the West. In an interview with Rob Spillman, poet Peter Cole will discuss the place of translation and poetry in that charged context.
.....................................................................................
5:30PM // BACKSTORY // KHALED HOSSEINI + FIROOZEH DUMAS Join us for a sparkling afternoon of on-stage chemistry as friends Khaled Hosseini and Firoozeh Dumas share the backstories of their lives: who they were before they became bestselling authors and how their paths, from Afghanistan and Iran, respectively, led them to this very moment.
AfterWORDS 8:30PM // "WHAT's YOUR STORY?" // ASPEN MEADOWS
TICKETS $15 | $10 ASW Students and pass holders
Directed by Barry Smith and featuring ASW Authors
Aspen is full of characters, as you can imagine, and for quite some time local writer and performer Barry Smith has been inviting them to take the stage and tell true stories about themselves. These
stories have spanned an incredible variety of themes and tones: adventure tales, funny childhood moments, brushes with the law, romances, sad stories, funny stories, and weird stories.
This summer, Barry has invited the Aspen Summer Words authors to do the same. Celebrate these stories told by literary stars including Firoozeh Dumas, Mona Eltahawy, Nikky Finney, Randall Kenan, Elinor Lipman, Ron Rash, and more!
Purchase tickets through aspenshowtix.com or by calling 970-920-5770. For more information on the Aspen Summer Words authors, please visit aspenwriters.org. For more information on Barry Smith, please visit barrysmith.com.
Friday // June 24
1PM // 20TH ANNUAL COLORADO BOOK AWARDS
Celebrate the peak of Colorado literary achievements and find out how our state inspires its homegrown talent at the 20th annual Colorado Book Awards, a progrm of the Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book. With brief readings from Colorado-based authors, publishers, editors, illurstrators, and photographers, this event should not be missed! For more information about finlists' books and contributors, visit coloradohumanites.org.
AfterWORDS 6pm
JOURNEY THROUGH AFGHANISTAN
Photography Exhibit | Nugget Gallery | 415 E Hyman Avenue | FREE This stunning exhibition, recommended by Khaled Hosseini, features compelling images of Afghanistan by internationally renowned photographers, Joseph N. Hoyt and Zalmaï. Their work artfully depicts the region's bygone days of peace and prosperity with contrasting scenes of a war-scarred land, life in refugee camps, and the repatriation of Afghanis to their homeland. The exhibit will provide guests the opportunity to enrich their cultural and educational appreciation of the Greater Middle East. This event is FREE and open to the public.
The Fine Print
Literary Festival pass includes all Festival events and receptions at Doerr-Hosier Center. The annual Benefit Dinner and AfterWORDS events may have separate tickets and are not included with the pass.
All sales are final. Passes and tickets are non-refundable. Tickets that have not been used may be redeemed at the end of the season for a charitable contribution receipt equal to the value of the ticket(s).
