Women Writers of the West

Description:

The wild west has many stories to tell - always has and always will. Join us at this session to hear the creative, seasoned women writers of the west who have centered their lives and work around rolling up their sleeves, digging in, and embracing the wild ride of bringing these stories to life.

Panelists:

Tracy Ross, Award-winning Journalist, Editor, and Essayist

Bio: Tracy Ross is a multiple-award-winning journalist, editor, and essayist whose work has appeared in the Best American Writing series three times and who won the coveted National Magazine Award (the Academy Awards of magazine writing) for a Backpacker essay she wrote called The Source of All Things, which later became a critically lauded memoir of the same name. These days, Ross writes  for everyone from Outside to Prevention to Red Bulletin to The Hollywood Reporter and is working on a new book, based on a Backpacker story, Gone Girl, about the disappearance of a young Colorado woman in Nepal. Ross’s assignments have taken her to the wilds of Alaska, the ski slopes of Iran, the steeps of Chamonix, and many points in between. She writes about exotic places and intriguing people, but mainly about the wilderness and how it intersects with the most important issues in our lives. And though she doesn’t focus exclusively on the West in her writing, it has dramatically impacted her life since she was a child growing up in southern Idaho.

Florence Williams, Journalist, Bestselling Author, Podcaster and Public Speaker

Bio: Florence Williams is the author of The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier and More Creative (W.W. Norton, 2017), which the The New York Times calls “fascinating” and JP Morgan named a top summer read of 2017. The Wall St. Journal calls her writing “exceptional…droll and crisp,” which makes her feel like a pastry. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for the New York Times, National Geographic, and numerous other publications. She wrote and hosted Outside’s   podcast series about women in extreme sports, The XX Factor. Florence won a 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for her first book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History (W.W. Norton, 2012) and a 2017 Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media for her Audible Original series based on the book. A fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature and a visiting scholar at George Washington University, her work focuses on the environment, health and science. She currently serves on the board of High Country News and the Ted Scripps Fellowship Program at the University of Colorado. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Radha Marcum, Journalist, Poet, and Content Marketing Professional

Bio: Radha Marcum is a poet and author of Bloodline (3: A Taos Press, 2017), a book about her grandfather’s work on the first atomic bombs in New Mexico. Radha has contributed to magazines like Outside, SKI, Yoga Journal, and Elevation Outdoors, and is currently marketing and communications director at River Network, a nonprofit.

Lisa Jones, Author, Journalist, and Creative Writing Teacher

Bio: Lisa Jones is the author of Broken: A Love Story, the true story of her friendship with quadriplegic Northern Arapahoe horse gentler and traditional healer Stanford Addison. Her journalism has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Orion, Salon, National Public Radio and High Country News. She teaches creative writing in Boulder, Denver and afield.

Moderator:

David Holbrooke, Creator of Original Thinkers

Bio: David Holbrooke is a filmmaker and cultural entrepreneur who is starting a new arts/ideas/film festival this October in Telluride called Original Thinkers. Besides being the founder of Original Thinkers, he is the Artistic Director of EarthxFilm, an impactful new environmental film festival in Dallas. Previously, he programmed the Telluride Mountainfilm festival for ten years, lifting it from a scrappy regional film festival to being on Moviemaker Magazine’s list of “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World.” Holbrooke is continuing to make films, because he feels smart, powerful story-telling is critical to a livable future on this earth. His last directorial effort, The Diplomat was about his legendary father, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke who ended the war in Bosnia. The film was considered by the National Board of Review to be one of the Five Best Documentaries of 2015. He lives in Telluride, Colorado with his wife Sarah. They have three kickass kids, two big dogs and a bunch of chickens.

Tweet

Share

← back to schedule