Western Colorado Writers Podcast

John and Christie have a chat with Palisadian - and new Western Slope Poet Laureate - Wendy Videlock to talk about her new role, which is to spread poetry far and wide. Wendy also discusses her artistic journey as both a poet and a visual artist, her tendency to write in rhyme and meter (and how she gets through to publications that avoid them), and her recent book of essays and poetry, The Poetic...

This year, Colorado author, poet, journalist, and Crestone Poetry Festival founder Peter Anderson completed a book ten years in the making. Reading Colorado: A Literary Road Guide takes readers on major and minor highways throughout Colorado, making place-centric literary pit-stops along the way. In this episode, John and Christie talk to Peter about "deepening the map" of Colorado, how a literary...

On September 9th, 2023, the fifth iteration of Slamming Bricks - the largest queer-focused invitational poetry slam competition in the Four Corners region - took place at the Avalon Theater in Grand Junction, Colorado. In this episode, Caleb Ferganchick, the founder and organizer of Slamming Bricks, looks back at 5 years of hard work to tell the colorful story of how the event came to exist, how i...

Christie talks to award-winning poet and social media expert, Melody Jones, about all things social media as it pertains to writers. Melody's knowledge spans the basics for beginners, as well as the deeper questions about the use of social media, how to measure success with it, and what on earth to do with it now that we are stuck with it. She also discusses picking which platform to use based on...

John and Christie interview Rick Kempa about the new issue of the literary journal, Deep Wild: Writing From the Backcountry. Rick talks about the ins and outs of running a literary journal, how Deep Wild fills a need in the literary landscape, whether or not Deep Wild could be considered "regional literature," and the importance of writing communities. John and Rick talk shop about their experienc...

Dr. John Lanci and Christie Matherne tackle something every writer likely has to do at some point: Public speaking. Award-winning Toastmaster Director and co-founder of TEDx Grand Junction, Mary Watson, joins us in the studio to talk about dealing with stage fright, avoiding (and counting!) filler words, President Obama's public speaking style, the difference between writing for publication and wr...

For the first episode of season two, Christie Matherne and Dr. John Lanci talk to Jacob Richards - a local activist, the President of the Mesa County Historical Society, and an avid history writer - about his latest project, People's History of the Grand Valley. Jacob also discusses the ins and outs of activism and working with groups of people, the advent of ChatGPT and how writers can utilize it...

For the holiday season, Avery and Christie offer the gift of more James Van Pelt. This is the rest of our chat with the award-winning Grand Valley science fiction author. In this half of the interview, James - Jim to his friends - shares his thoughts on the two types of books-about-writing, his early days of writing poetry to get girls, how to accept literary rejection, and that tingly feeling you...

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Avery and Christie chat with Navajo Nation Poet Laureate, Dr. Laura Tohe, about her native language and recent work. Dr. Tohe shares her journey to poetry, her childhood experience in a Native American boarding school, how she explores culture-wide trauma in her poetry, and details about her interviews with Navajo code talkers for her book, Code Talker S...

In our sixth episode, Grand Junction native and filmmaker Hank Braxtan chats with Avery about the film industry and creating your own definition of success. With films under his belt such as Snake Outta Compton, Chemical Peel, and Jurassic Hunt, Braxtan is a successful director, producer, and screenwriter. In this episode, he shares his journey through the film industry, starting with humble begin...

Aerik Francis and Nico Wilkinson, two Colorado-based award-winning poets who performed at the Slamming Bricks poetry slam competition in Grand Junction this month, chat with Avery about the power of poetry in their lives, what thrills them about Grand Junction’s Pride Week and the Slamming Bricks event, and slam poetry as an art form.  Aerik is a Queer Black and Latinx poet and a teaching artist b...

Emilie Stickley, local comedian and cofounder of Joke Junction, chats with Avery about writing and performing comedy. She discusses her process for turning life experiences into comedy material, how to craft a funny character in your writing, and the importance of having a goldfish memory. No matter what you may be writing, Emilie covers tips for bringing in your audience, making your work relatab...

Avery and Christie talk poetry with two incredible published Western Colorado poets. The first half is our chat with award-winning poet and Ouray County’s Poet Laureate, Beth Paulson, who co-founded and co-directed the Open Bard Poetry Series in Ridgway, CO and leads the Ridgway workshop group, Poetica. The second half of the episode features Grand Valley poet and U.S. Army veteran, Lisa Wence Con...

Two award-winning LGBTQ+ authors from our Pride episode - Finnian Burnett & Kimberly Cooper Griffin - give us their list of tips and tricks for new writers, especially LGBTQ+ writers. Also in this episode: Finn & Kim's thoughts on the recent massive sales uptick in the LGBTQ+ romance novel market, and Avery discusses how even independent booksellers pass over smaller LGBTQ+ publishers in f...

Avery and Christie interview local LGBTQ+ slam poet, Caleb Ferganchick, to discuss poetry and activism. Caleb is the founder and organizer of Slamming Bricks: A Riot on 1st Street, the largest LGBTQ+ slam event in the state of Colorado. The second part of the episode features award-winning LGBTQ+ authors Finnian Burnett and Kimberly Cooper Griffin. They talk about flash fiction, novel writing and...

Our first episode features Grand Valley science fiction author, James Van Pelt, as he discusses his writing process across genres from sci-fi to horror, the odd places he finds inspiration, what he has taught his students about writing during his years teaching English at Fruita Monument High School, and how writing streaks have motivated him to reach some impressive publishing goals. Jim also rea...