Set in the depths of a Denver recession, Manuel Ramos’ new novel follows Gus Corral as he gets caught up in a gritty world of warring gangs, murder and a missing religious artifact. Out now on Arte Público Press, Desperado: A Mile High Noir uses the North Side of Denver…
Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts, it can be a profound shared experience that culminates in the better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, which celebrates books that inspire Denver artists. This week, Adrian Mesa, a comedian, gourmand and charming barbecue guest, discusses his favorite book, The Pilgrimage, by Brazillian novelist Paolo Coelho. The Pilgrimage concerns its protagonist’s spiritual development as he traverses the road to Santiago de Compostela, an important catholic pilgrimage site in Northern Spain.
A poet, dancer and visual artist, Serena Chopra is a powerful artistic force. Whether she’s performing as part of the Evolving Doors Dance Company or working as RedLine’s writer-in-residence, Chopra is constantly putting out fascinating work, like her recent This Human, a full-length poetry book that delves into the concept…
When they met a few years ago, Ken Arkind and Charly Fasano became fast friends. Like Arkind — an American National Poetry Slam Champion who tours the world performing and teaching poetry as executive director of the award-winning Minor Disturbance Youth Slam Team — Fasano liked to perform poetry at…
The plane lands in Aspen at a quarter after four; I’m late. Outside the terminal, which doubles as a café for sharp-dressed skiers and businessmen, D.J. Watkins is waiting in his heavy-breathing ’89 Subaru Legacy. The 29-year-old Kansas native moved to Aspen five years ago, determined to preserve Hunter S…
Not long ago, Graham Elliot moved to Colorado to chase a girl. Unfortunately, his quest for love didn’t conclude with a picturesque Hollywood ending. So Elliot did what most spurned lovers do: He wrote a novel, of course. In 2012 Elliot released A Pact for Life, a story about a…
On the phone, author Nathan Englander reminds me of young boys I sat across from at the Passover Seder table as a child; as if hyped up on one sip too many of the mild Manischewitz, he talks and talks, building invisible and fantastical windmills in the air before him…
After 35 years as a criminal defense attorney, Jeanne Winer has published her first novel. The Furthest City Light is set in Boulder and draws on her life in the courtroom, but it’s neither a mystery nor a legal procedural. Instead, it’s a wise and often humorous examination of a…
As a poet, Hoa Nguyen writes concise, lyrical poetry that mimics the quality of music, reflecting on grand themes of planetary grief and experiencing the numinous. Her other pursuit, as a reader of tarot cards, deals in many of the same archetypes and patterns. Nguyen will be in town Saturday…
Forget about Fifty Shades of Grey. E.L. James’ popular trio of “mommy porn” books are popular, but there was kinky romance before them — and thank the various gods, there will be plenty after. Local Colorado authors Reggie and Kasi Alexander (two of the three subjects of this week’s feature…
Benzodiazepines like Valium and Xanax are one of the most widely prescribed drugs in America — and one of the most addictive. In Death Grip, which came our yesterday, Boulder-based author, expert climber and former editor-in-chief of Climbing magazine Matt Samet chronicles his five-plus-year struggle with an addiction to the…
It can be difficult to be an introvert growing up in a world geared toward extroverts. In her New York Times bestselling book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain questions what she calls the “Extrovert Ideal” of Western society and suggests that…
This week’s cover story, “Hip-hop 101,” describes a new venture by CU-Boulder English Professor and Anthology of Rap co-editor Adam Bradley: A “Hip-Hop in the Classroom” program based at Montbello High School, the far northeast Denver school in the midst of a drastic turnaround plan. The story focuses on one…
What do Miami Herald columnists do when they’re bored? They write books, of course, and not necessarily ones that reflect their journalistic oeuvres. Like Carl Hiaasen before him, Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry chooses to spin comic thrillers with plenty of Florida color. But given Barry’s proclivity for being funny,…
After 33 years, Boulder’s Left Hand Books is closing its doors. Since it was founded in 1979, the bookstore has offered alternative books and periodicals by such noted authors such as Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky. According to Louise Knapp, a member of the bookstore collective, closing the store became…
Tired of zombies and vampires hogging all the apocalyptic fiction fun? Local author Travis Heermann agrees, so he’s pushing werewolves to the center stage in his new novel The Wild Boys. The timeless shapeshifters of the book come to life thanks to a bioengineered plague that tilts the balance of…
Denver’s vibrant slam poetry community has deep roots. Minor Disturbance is where the youngest poets grow into their words — poets like former East High student Libby Olga Howard, who’s gone on to find her future at Lewis and Clark College. Howard, a Minor Disturbance mainstay of a few years…
“The things we fear about poetry are the things that are good about poetry.” — Jake Adam York Those words inspired me as a dabbler in poems, though the genteel poet and educator Jake Adam York, who died unexpectedly yesterday of a stroke, couldn’t have known that about me. And…
Tired of nativity scenes and that jolly old man in the red suit? Looking for a new way to celebrate the holidays, maybe one that’s full of horrors from beyond time and space? You’re in luck: The H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Special that opens tomorrow at Wesley Chapel in Boulder should…
Noir fiction is full of seedy bars where desperate people make bad decisions to do worse things to each other. So it makes sense that if you want to offer a place for noir writers to read their work and interact with the public, you’ll skip the bookstore and go…
Zombie lit has exploded in the past decade, with the undead menace making its way into everything from award-winning graphic novels (The Walking Dead) to mash-ups with the classics (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). It’s only natural, then, that the zombie is making its way into the corporate world through…
When worldwide walker and Coloradan Polly Letofsky decided to take a hike, she covered 14,000 or so miles, with the goal of spreading awareness about breast cancer. Sometimes the challenges and hardships of the journey might have taken her off course philosophically, but now that she’s been back a while…
