Renata Golden

9 September 2024

 

 

Greetings!

 

Here I am again in your inbox with news about my essay collection Mountain Time: A Field Guide to Astonishment. The book has been honored in two literary contests: first, Mountain Time was a finalist in the Southwest Book Design Award from the New Mexico Book Association, and currently is a finalist for the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in the Nature/Environment/Animals category. There is a lot of strong competition for the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, so I will be excited to hear the announcement of the winner on October 1.

 

There is also news about recent events added to the book tour. I'm looking forward to some reading events and conversations coming up this month and next. On September 11 (this Wednesday) I will be reading with Josephine LoRe at SOMOS in Taos, NM. Josephine is a poet and writer from Alberta, Canada, who will be reading poems about family and place, loss and abiding love from her book of poetry titled In My Father's House from Moonstone Press. I will read an essay from Mountain Time - maybe an essay I haven't read in public before, about motherhood, bluebirds, and choice. This might be just the time to read that essay. Come join us if you're in the area!

 

Then in late September I'm off to Greenville, South Carolina to meet with students at Furman University for a couple of craft talks, and then a reading at the university and a public reading at M. Judson Booksellers also in Greenville. I have been promised interesting and engaging questions from the students - I'm sure they will keep me on my toes.

 

In October I will be reading at the Western Literature Association conference in Tucson as part of a panel titled "Voices of the Borderlands." Then on to Georgia for a reading and conversation with Ellen Birkett Morris at CSU and the Georgia Center for the Book. There is still time to submit your question - just shoot me an email - and I'll try to answer it during one of these conversations.

 

I am honored and delighted to be scheduled for a conversation with James Thomas Stevens at Geronimo's Books in Santa Fe on November 16. James is an award-winning poet and writer who also publishes under his Mohawk name James Aronhiótas Stevens. Be on the lookout for an essay by James about Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) in a new anthology coming soon. 

 

Check the Events page on my website for more information about these events and more. Stay tuned - there is a lot happening this fall.

 

Keep in touch - I would love to hear from you!

 

Renata

Scroll down or click the headings under READ PAST NEWSLETTERS on the left to get caught up on recent events. Be sure to subscribe if you would like to be notified about upcoming events. Hope to see you soon! 

15 June 2024 

 

I'm delighted to have a new essay in the Strange Wests issue of About Place Journal. This essay, titled "An Earth Song: A Letter from Aldo Leopold to Ta-Nehisi Coates," imagines a letter Aldo Leopold might have written to Ta-Nehisi Coates about resonances Leopold—forester, conservationist, and author of A Sand County Almanac (1949)—might have found with Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the National Book Award winning book Between the World and Me (2015). Resonances explored in this essay include race as a construct, the land ethic, and violence done to Black bodies as well as to the Earth. The essay references, directly and indirectly, several literary works, including the Richard Wright poem Between the World and Me, James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, Pope Francis's "Laudato Si" encyclical, and Thomas Merton's essay "The Wild Places." Whew - that's a lot of backstory! But please check out the Strange Wests issue of About Place Journal - I'm in some fine company, including Elizabeth Jacobson, Anne Haven McDonnell, Petra Kuppers, Ann Filemyr, and Jake Skeets.

Apply for a residency at Storyknife in Home, Alaska. My experience there was wonderful - I got a lot of writing done and felt well cared for while doing it. Plus the food and the scenery are terrific! If you are a woman-identified writer, 21 years of age or older, apply now!

 

Here's more information:

 

Residencies at Storyknife are either for two or four weeks. Resident's food and lodging is covered during the period of their residency, but travel to and from Homer, Alaska, is the responsibility of the resident. Residents stay in individual cabins & dine at the main house. An on-staff chef is responsible for food preparation. Four week residencies begin on the 1st of each month and end on the 28th. Two week residencies begin on the 1st of each month and end on the 14th OR begin on the 15th and end on the 28th. Residencies are available April through October.

 

Go here to apply: https://storyknife.org/how-to-apply/