This year our festival is focused on overcoming the intimidation of the blank page. Our goal is to ignite your creative fire.
Our group of professional writers will lead workshops in which they share their art, their professional insight and their literary experience with creative writing. We hope our writers will give festival participants “fresh juice” for their own creative process, and we know participants will feel inspired to share their creations throughout the weekend.
For Festival Attendees from Out of Town
We have a special hotel rate at La Quinta - Book directly with La Quinta by calling +1 (719) 845-0102 and ask for the GET LIT! Rate. Must book by September 15th.
Festival Schedule
Thursday, September 21
Meet & greet
Festival authors will read some of their work for your enjoyment!
After the readings, you'll be able to mingle with them over tasty snacks and refreshments.
Friday, September 22
WORKSHOPS IN THE SCHOOLS
Trinidad Elementary - High School
Hoene School
Holy Trinidad Academy
12 pm - 1:00 pm
Seniors Workshop—Back Roads to Distant Memories
with Joe Hutchison
H.R. Sayre Senior Center - 1222 San Pedro, Trinidad, CO
In “Back Roads to Distant Memories,” we’ll experiment with ways to travel back in time to re-inhabit moments that remain vivid in our minds—resonant for reasons we may not quite understand. Our aim will be to lift these “lost moments” up into memorable language, so that they stand forth in the present and reveal something essential that has inspired us to carry them so firmly in our memory.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
OPENING NIGHT
The Commons @ Space to Create
5:00-8:00 pm
Gala Dinner With Authors
Our opening night gala is both a community event and a fundraiser!
Folks in attendance will enjoy delicious food prepared by our friend JC Picco, and will get to hear our professional Colorado authors read and share some of their work.
As a fundraiser, this element of the literary festival funds our in-school workshops, which we provide free to Trinidad area schools. It also allows us to let local middle school, high school and college students attend the Saturday workshops for free!
Gala prices are $50 per person, or $80 per couple.
Photo: The Commons @ Space to Create on Grand Opening
SATURDAY, september 23
All hours listed are in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)
Tickets required for entrance into workshops
MORNING WORKSHOPS
10 am - 11:30 am
Mindfulness & Writing—Mind Full vs. Mindful
with PW Covington
Making use of age-appropriate resource materials and a brief guided imagery activity, both students and adults will have the opportunity to examine and re-examine how heightened and engaged mindfulness can improve and enhance the creative process. Those participating will have the opportunity to share their writing in a positive and encouraging atmosphere.
Experimenting with Ekphrasis
with Kate Kingston
In this writing workshop we’ll experiment with Ekphrasis, a literary response to visual art, by drawing inspiration from an art piece such as a painting or a sculpture. The focus is on creating an awareness of the five senses in both writing and art. The exercise allows the writer to enter the piece with sensitivity and to explore the connections between art, writing, and the self.
Writing with Abandon and Control in Poetry and Prose: A Hands-On Workshop
with Kathryn Winograd
So often the act of writing ricochets between the lightning flash from the muse and the dog-paddle through the quagmire of the unknown. How do writers after the lucky fever of inspiration revise to find organic structure and elegance in the sometimes chaos of their outpourings? And how do writers blocked from their own intuitive riches, and despairing, make the sudden leaps into writing that is profound and expansive? In this workshop, we will explore the works of other writers, both poets and prose writers, and experiment in our own free-writing with the techniques we discover for both the abandon and the control that happens in the generation of work and the, sometimes, radical revision. This workshop is designed for any writer looking for the next level in their journey. Come prepared to write fresh material and/or revise the stubborn.
SATURDAY, september 23
All hours listed are in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)
Tickets required for entrance into workshops
AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS
1:00 - 2:30 pm
The Wound is in the Well – The Ghost is in the Bucket
with Aaron Abeyta
The old saying, what’s in the well comes up in the bucket, is intended to speak of a person’s character, resolve, and ambitions. This can hold true in terms of poetry as well, but we will focus on the particular “ghosts” of the poet’s past, both ancestral and those haunting; the themes, images, ideas, and recurring subjects a particular poet (you) tend to explore over and over – the well-source of what makes each of us write.
Our workshop will focus on techniques and concepts which will make us better readers, able to identify in others’ work what we are searching for in our own; writers will be offered a wide range of tools, effective in all genres, for incorporating what they have learned into their own poems and writing.
At the heart of the workshop is the notion that we, writers, are here to heal, repair and make whole, not just for our own sake but for our readers.
Children's Book - La Banana
with Ginna Pollack & Senora Banana
Do you want to write a picture book but don't know where to begin? Or, have you written one but wonder what's next? In this workshop, the author/illustrator duo of "La Banana" will share their origin story--from idea to print, including illustrations, editing, market research, querying, and building a social media presence. Whether you prefer to self-publish or seek traditional publishing, this workshop hopes to inspire you.
Discovering Kintsugi: The “Golden Joinery” of Revision: A Hands-On Workshop
with Kathryn Winograd
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When the favorite Chinese tea bowl of a 15th century shogun broke, his craftsman “fixed” it with a lacquer mixed with gold. The result? A beautiful testament to the vessel’s broken history and its transformation into a more profound entity that honors that brokenness. We’ll explore how poets, and we’ll even plumb some prose writers, across time and place who have used a multitude of techniques such as deliberate disruption and associative meaning to expand, alchemize, and deepen their own “broken.” To participate in the quick exercises scattered throughout this presentation, please bring in your own “broken” poetry and prose “half-starts,” an unrelated personal journal entry or two, a print out of facts and terms for an object/phenomena in the natural world that intrigues you (for example, birds, wind, black holes, etc) and a quote from your favorite philosopher.
(If you participate in my morning workshop on Writing with Abandon and Control, you’ll have material to work with in this workshop as well.) Plus paper and pen, laptop if that suits you better.
One of my favorite quotes is from Wallace Stevens’ “Large Red Man Reading;” it encapsulates, for me anyway, the magic of a poem, the power of a poem to make the reader feel and be healed, even when, perhaps, they were unaware of what they sought yet were healed, nonetheless, but what they found therein,
Which in those ears and in those thin, those spended hearts,
Took on color, took on shape and the size of things as they are
and spoke the feeling for them, which is what they had lacked.
2:45 - 4:15 pm
Riding the Transformational Wave
with Joe Hutchison
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“Riding the Transformational Wave” explores the complex process of writing poems that draw readers into those moments of transformation from which all good poems arise. Using the image of ocean waves, we’ll consider how the interaction of three key elements shape the wave of a poem’s meaning: moon-sway, wind-sweep, and hidden terrain.
Cowboy Poetry
with Lindy Simmons
After a general introduction, samples of cowboy poetry will be interspersed as examples of the genre. We will take for granted a certain amount of knowledge of general poetry forms and will concentrate on those aspects that make cowboy poetry unique. With a little knowledge about tools and special vocabulary, we will all try our hand at writing a poem. Topics we will cover in this workshop include how cowboy poetry is different from other poetry; a preference for rhymed poetry and ballads; brainstorming topics to write about; tools and special vocabulary; and whether or not we can fudge the truth.​
Create Your Own Micro-Fiction
with Adam Gaffen
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Come to the microfiction workshop and walk out with your own story! Award-winning author Adam Gaffen will provide you with a genre, a theme, and a word or phrase you will work into a 300 word story. He will be with you during the workshop to answer questions, with the possibility of your story appearing in a Trinidad Literary Festival anthology.
4:30 - 6:00 pm
A Novel Approach: Writing
to the Reader
with SETH
What pulls a reader into a story? Before plot or conflict can be introduced? Before your characters have time to develop? Explore what all readers share in common and how to draw your readers into those commonalities.
When One is Not Enough: Linked Poems and Poem Series
with Michele Battiste
Sometimes a concept or a narrative arc is too big for a single poem. Sometimes one poem leads to another, and that one leads to another still. Sometimes an image or idea haunts our poems, demanding more and more attention. This session, offered by Michele Battiste, will explore serial and linked poems, the challenges they present and the opportunities they offer. We will explore how other poets use a serial approach, and we'll experiment with generative exercises to discover the poem series lurking in our own minds.
6:45 pm
Passing of the Gourd
facilitated by Art Goodtimes
Inspired by the late wisdom teacher Dolores LaChapelle of the Silverton-based Way of the Mountain, we form a peer-to-peer sharing circle. Rather than passing a Talking Stick around the circle, we pass a gourd -- an ancient symbol of partnership culture with the curved bowl of the feminine AND the peaked thrust of the masculine.
The person holding the gourd speaks and everyone else listens. We don't encourage cross-talk or applause. We do encourage twinkling or jazz hands to demonstrate approval. We ask participants to bring a poem or story or song to share (their own or someone else's). We usually go around the circle once and it takes 30-45 min for the sharing, depending on the number of folks participating. We close the circle with the Prayer for the Great Family adapted with permission from Gary Snyder.
sunday, september 24
9:00 - 11:00 am
hike & write
Writing the Field: Hike and Write
with David Anthony Martin
A guided hike along the River Walk along the Purgatoire River with a focus on environmental literacy, field notes & form. Guided by environmental educator, poet and publisher David Anthony Martin, writers will use their experience of natural setting and information to take field notes and craft works.
Participants are encouraged to bring their preferred tools for taking field notes or writing (journals, notebooks, phones or other devices), water bottle, and to dress for the weather and for walking through outdoor spaces, both on and off paths
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Performance at
Main Street LIVE
PETS (and Their Humans)
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To expand your horizons to dramatic literature - or to relax and enjoy some entertainment - head to Main Street LIVE for the final performance of PETS (and Their Humans) by Mike Sockol.
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When Brad's wife dies, he finds solace by talking to his pets. But what happens when his pets start talking back? Is Brad going crazy or can he actually talk to animals? A quirky, poignant comedy that will encourage audiences to rethink the role of pets in their lives.
MEET THE AUTHORS
Click on the author's photo to read their bio!
KEEP THE LITERARY FIRES BURNING IN THE CORAZÓN
The Corazón de Trinidad Creative District has brought this important annual event to the city of Trinidad for the fifth year. In doing so, Trinidad has hosted Poet Laureates, published and nationally known poets, and writers; provided educational programming for area students; and has aided local hotels, restaurants, galleries, and museums by drawing people from around the state and beyond!
Please help us keep poetry and literature shining in the Corazón by donating what you can and join us at this year’s exciting Literature Festival. We hope to see you there!
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