2019 Schedule of Events
ALL LitFest events are FREE except for Saturday's Literary Burlesque.
Tickets go on sale at Between the Covers Bookstore on May 1 at 10am.
[ $20 / ALWAYS SELLS OUT / Stop in or call 970-728-4504 ]
Tickets go on sale at Between the Covers Bookstore on May 1 at 10am.
[ $20 / ALWAYS SELLS OUT / Stop in or call 970-728-4504 ]
Friday • May 17 • 7:30pm • Liberty Bar
SPOTLIGHT POETRY
Poetry opens the festival with a reading by Rafael Jesús González, the Poet Laureate of Berkeley CA andour Featured Poet for 2019. He'll be joined by Colorado Mesa University emeritus professor Luis Lopez.
An All Poets Reading will follow so bring yer words!
Friday • May 17 • 10pm • The Poet Place
LATE NIGHT with Poets
Saunter over to The Poet Place (location to be disclosed at the Liberty Bar) for some casual hangtime amongst poets from all over. Who knows what inspiration will surface ...
Saturday • May 18 • 10am • Meet at High Alpine Coffee Bar (at Between the Covers Bookstore)
POETS WALK up Bear Creek
Join Faculty Poet ART GOODTIMES for a wander up one of Telluride's favorite trails. Bring poems and instruments! Please note this is a weather dependent event. If it's a-howlin' outside, plan to hunker down in the cozy cafe amid books and an amazing assortment of steamy bevs. Not a bad Plan B.
Saturday • May 18 • 1pm • Telluride Arts HQ (Across from the library)
1pm • LIVE recording of the Emerging Form podcast hosted by poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and science writer Christie Aschwanden, with special LitFest guests Rafael Jesús González and L. Luis Lopez.
2:15pm • Honoring Ettore Rella
San Miguel County Poet Laureate Daiva Chesonis will recite "Onorina Rudelat (Immigrant Woman)" as the opening act for this year's poetry awards. Born in Telluride in 1903, Rella was a poet and a playwright who championed verse in his plays. Of Italian and Albanian descent, he left Telluride to study in Rome, finally settling in New York, where he wrote several Off Broadway plays in the 1940s and 50s. He won grants from the National Foundation of the Arts, the Theatre Guild, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and taught at Bennington College. He died in 1988 at the age of 81. Rella's grand nieces will be in attendance!
2:30pm • Western Slope Poet Laureate Announcement & Celebratory Poem ... drumroll, please!
2:45pm • 22nd Fischer Poetry Prize & The Cantor Prize presented by Rafael Jesús González with Readings by Winning Poets
Named for Mark and Elaine Fischer, two Colorado creatives and champions of the arts. Mark was a brilliant lawyer poet who died young, and Elaine his artist widow who went on to become Mayor of Telluride and a San Miguel County Commissioner for four terms. She passed away in 2016. The prize comes with a cash award of $1,000 (plus a $500 travel stipend to cover the journey of the winner to Telluride to read their award-winning poem), and five finalist awards of $200 each. Since 2018, thanks to a generous donation from the Cantor Family, Talking Gourds will also award a $500 Cantor Award for the winning poem in the Fischer Prize contest from a Colorado poet. The final judge in 2019 will be Berkeley's Poet Laureate Rafael Jesús González.
SUBMISSIONS are due May 1, for more INFO, zap this.
Saturday • May 18 • 8pm (doors at 7:30pm) • The Black Box at the Michael D. Palm Theatre
6th Annual Literary Burlesque
This year’s show is Coming to Our Senses, a poetic trip through the senses—and not just the usual five. The evermorphing troupe of regional women poets will, in their reveals, appeal to what makes us human, from the sensual to the nonsensical. A glimpse, a whiff, a tone, a taste, a caress ... you'll be touched. Performers will include: Elissa Dickson, Ellen Metrick, Samantha Tisdel Wright, and Daiva Chesonis. Visit the Burl Gurls page for more info.
Tickets are $20 and will be available on May 1st, at 10am, at Between the Covers Bookstore.
Please note that this show ALWAYS sells out.
Sunday • May 19 • 12pm • Ah Haa School for the Arts
Gourds Circle
One last sharing of poems and stories ... Bring a pillow!
Sunday • May 19 • 7pm • Wilkinson Public Library
Featured Author: Pam Houston
Pam is currently on a crazy loaded book tour for her new book, "Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country," from coast to coast to even bush planes for readings in Alaska. Just try to keep up with her Facebook posts! For more on Pam and the featured title, read here.
THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
SPOTLIGHT POETRY
Poetry opens the festival with a reading by Rafael Jesús González, the Poet Laureate of Berkeley CA andour Featured Poet for 2019. He'll be joined by Colorado Mesa University emeritus professor Luis Lopez.
An All Poets Reading will follow so bring yer words!
Friday • May 17 • 10pm • The Poet Place
LATE NIGHT with Poets
Saunter over to The Poet Place (location to be disclosed at the Liberty Bar) for some casual hangtime amongst poets from all over. Who knows what inspiration will surface ...
Saturday • May 18 • 10am • Meet at High Alpine Coffee Bar (at Between the Covers Bookstore)
POETS WALK up Bear Creek
Join Faculty Poet ART GOODTIMES for a wander up one of Telluride's favorite trails. Bring poems and instruments! Please note this is a weather dependent event. If it's a-howlin' outside, plan to hunker down in the cozy cafe amid books and an amazing assortment of steamy bevs. Not a bad Plan B.
Saturday • May 18 • 1pm • Telluride Arts HQ (Across from the library)
1pm • LIVE recording of the Emerging Form podcast hosted by poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and science writer Christie Aschwanden, with special LitFest guests Rafael Jesús González and L. Luis Lopez.
2:15pm • Honoring Ettore Rella
San Miguel County Poet Laureate Daiva Chesonis will recite "Onorina Rudelat (Immigrant Woman)" as the opening act for this year's poetry awards. Born in Telluride in 1903, Rella was a poet and a playwright who championed verse in his plays. Of Italian and Albanian descent, he left Telluride to study in Rome, finally settling in New York, where he wrote several Off Broadway plays in the 1940s and 50s. He won grants from the National Foundation of the Arts, the Theatre Guild, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and taught at Bennington College. He died in 1988 at the age of 81. Rella's grand nieces will be in attendance!
2:30pm • Western Slope Poet Laureate Announcement & Celebratory Poem ... drumroll, please!
2:45pm • 22nd Fischer Poetry Prize & The Cantor Prize presented by Rafael Jesús González with Readings by Winning Poets
Named for Mark and Elaine Fischer, two Colorado creatives and champions of the arts. Mark was a brilliant lawyer poet who died young, and Elaine his artist widow who went on to become Mayor of Telluride and a San Miguel County Commissioner for four terms. She passed away in 2016. The prize comes with a cash award of $1,000 (plus a $500 travel stipend to cover the journey of the winner to Telluride to read their award-winning poem), and five finalist awards of $200 each. Since 2018, thanks to a generous donation from the Cantor Family, Talking Gourds will also award a $500 Cantor Award for the winning poem in the Fischer Prize contest from a Colorado poet. The final judge in 2019 will be Berkeley's Poet Laureate Rafael Jesús González.
SUBMISSIONS are due May 1, for more INFO, zap this.
Saturday • May 18 • 8pm (doors at 7:30pm) • The Black Box at the Michael D. Palm Theatre
6th Annual Literary Burlesque
This year’s show is Coming to Our Senses, a poetic trip through the senses—and not just the usual five. The evermorphing troupe of regional women poets will, in their reveals, appeal to what makes us human, from the sensual to the nonsensical. A glimpse, a whiff, a tone, a taste, a caress ... you'll be touched. Performers will include: Elissa Dickson, Ellen Metrick, Samantha Tisdel Wright, and Daiva Chesonis. Visit the Burl Gurls page for more info.
Tickets are $20 and will be available on May 1st, at 10am, at Between the Covers Bookstore.
Please note that this show ALWAYS sells out.
Sunday • May 19 • 12pm • Ah Haa School for the Arts
Gourds Circle
One last sharing of poems and stories ... Bring a pillow!
Sunday • May 19 • 7pm • Wilkinson Public Library
Featured Author: Pam Houston
Pam is currently on a crazy loaded book tour for her new book, "Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country," from coast to coast to even bush planes for readings in Alaska. Just try to keep up with her Facebook posts! For more on Pam and the featured title, read here.
THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE