Taos Writers on Taos: Update
On Friday July 24, 7 pm at the Mural Room in the Historic County Courthouse John Nichols will deliver a summary of his career thus far: “60 years of typing and they put you on the day shift: five decades of B.S. and counting: my life writing novels, memoirs, screenplays, and embarrassing polemical jeremiads.” Doors open at 6 pm. Limited Seating and Standing Room.
Nichols is as well known for his stand-up routines as he is for his novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. As a script doctor, he was responsible for the academy award that went to Costa-Gavra’s “Missing.” Further, this is the 50th anniversary of “The Sterile Cuckoo,” a Nichols novel adapted for the screen by Alvin Sargent, directed by Alan J. Pakula, which jump started Liza Minnelli’s career. The good John once generously discussed the story of “Cuckoo” with students at one of my UNM-Taos courses in a memorable seminar on novel, film, and a writer’s neophyte career.
On Sat. and Sunday on July 25 and 26, beginning at 12 noon, more local writers, including native Hispanic, native Taos Pueblo, native newcomers and newcomers will read from their work: fiction, children’s books, academic publications, essays, non-fiction, memoirs, and columns. Booksellers, local publishers, and the self-published will offer works for sale.
Here in Taos, where so many sub-cultures circulate but don’t touch this event is meant to introduce writers to each other and the public at large.
While there is no charge, a donation of $10 is suggested in order to help Taos County purchase temporary lights and a sound system for use in the Mural Room. The County plans a public workshop on Wed. July 22 at 6 pm in the Mural Room to discuss the future upgrade of the facility for which commissioners have obtained a loan to install ADA bathrooms, an elevator, and other improvements. For the last couple of years the County and the public have conspired to liberate and explore the uses of this, one of the most sympatico public rooms in Taos.
See the tentative list schedule below of writers willing to read and discuss their work, whether published in books, magazines, journals, or as works in progress. As this next week proceeds, Taos Friction will briefly discuss/and or announce the topics various writers will discuss.
Preliminary Reading Schedule and Set Up at Historic County Courthouse Mural Room
Friday: July 24: Open at 6 PM: 7 PM: John Nichols followed by Q & A
Sat: July 25: 10-12. Writers, Publishers, Booksellers set-up: Mural Room/ HCC
12:30 Readings Begin
Sun: July 26: 12:00 Mural Room Open to the Public
Readings begin at 12:30.
Format: If you receive this tentative schedule and the time suggested or agreed to conflicts, get right back to me, bwhaley@newmex.com and I’ll try to make adjustments. We are going to conduct this a bit like an open workshop: Read your most intense passages or passages you want fellow writers and members of the public to hear, five to seven minutes (and not more than 15 minutes). Then one of us will lead a short Q and A, whether about the prose or content and move on.
If we run over in terms of requests, I may double up with some writers, per their permission. The form allows us all to get to know each other better. We realize nobody can stay for the duration but please invite friends and hang around if possible. We’re all in this together. Check out the books.
July 24, Friday Night:
Open 6 PM. Brodsky/Nichols Books on sale.
7:00 PM: Nichols on Deck
July 25, Sat.
10: 12. Booksellers Set Up
12:00 Open
12:30: TBA
1:00 Martha Grossman
1:30 pm: Elizabeth Cunningham
2:00 pm: TBA
2:30 pm: Cindy Brown
3:00 pm: Steve Tapia
3:30 pm: Bob Silver
4:00 pm: John Farr
4:30 pm: Kika Vargas
5: 00 pm: Steve Fox
5:30 pm: John Suazo
6:00 pm: Richard Trujillo
6:30 pm: Taylor Streit
7:00 pm: Jim Wagner
7:30 pm: Paul O’Connor
8:00 pm: Bill Whaley
8:30 pm. Q & A authors present
Sunday PM
12 Noon Book Fair Opens
12:30 Bob Romero
1:00 TBA: Trudy Healy
1:30 Jonathan WarmDay Coming
2: 00: Debra Villalobos-Whaley
2:30: Linda Fair
3:00: Catherine Naylor
3:30. Lynn Robinson
4:00 Debra Diamond
4:30:
5:00 Fred Fair
5:30. Phaedra Greenwood
6:00: Fred Dillen
6:30: Kay Matthews
7:00: Sylvia Rodriguez
7:30 Q&A Authors Present
Sponsored by Taos County Art and Artifacts Review Committee, Taos Council of the Arts, SOMOS, Nighthawk Press, Wink Visual Arts, and Taos Friction.