Western Colorado Writers Podcast

Episode 15: Episode 15: The Inner Landscape with Western Slope Poet Laureate Wendy Videlock

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 Imaginarium: A Worthy Difficulty. Nobody on this podcast likes small-talk, so John dives deep with Wendy on topics such as: Can bad people make good art? Is there a difference between poetry by men and poetry by women? And, is all poetry actually about death? This is a long one, but we only kept the good parts.

Episode 14: Episode 14: Literary Map-Making with Peter Anderson

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 map even comes together despite the magnitude of such a project, his career-long fascination with how landscapes affect people, and what you can expect at the upcoming Crestone Poetry Festival (this week!). Other topics include Peter's brief stint living in the ghost town of St. Elmo, and a deep dive into why so many types of people - from spiritualists to cowboys - end up in Crestone. If you love the concept of "place" in writing, you don't want to skip this one.

Episode 13: Episode 13 - Absolutely Delusional: 5 Years of Slamming Bricks

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 intersectionality played a key role in helping it grow (from 100 attendees to over 500), and how being "absolutely delusional" is sometimes necessary when you're chasing a big dream.  Featuring slam poetry performances by Pepper Ruzin, Briana Hammerstrom, Adrienne Cascarella, and Caleb Ferganchick.  Note: This episode contains recordings of poetry performances that use curse words in the context of artistic expression.

Episode 12: Episode 12: Navigating Social Media for Writers with Melody Jones

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 your audience and how e-newsletters can help you keep in touch with your readers. Melody Jones is an award-winning poet, social media manager, writing and creativity coach, and the President of the Western Colorado Writers' Forum. Learn more about her on her website, MelodyJonesAuthor.com.

Episode 11: Episode 11 - Deep Wild: Backcountry Writing with Rick Kempa

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 experiences teaching college students to write, and Rick also reads a selection from his own latest book of poetry, Too Vast for Sleep.  Rick Kempa is a poet, former instructor at Western Wyoming College, and avid backpacker, who founded Deep Wild five years ago. The annual literary journal is headquartered in Grand Junction and gets submissions from all over the world.