Be part of the conversation

Join us Friday, February 7, at 5 pm at the bookstore for a reading and conversation with Zak Podmore about his latest book, LIFE AFTER DEAD POOL. Free, no registration required. Books available for purchase and signing.

After decades of drought, the American West is stretched to the breaking point. A changing climate and design flaws in the Glen Canyon Dam have pushed the once-massive Lake Powell reservoir to the brink of collapse—putting at risk millions of people who depend on the Colorado River for water, agriculture, and electricity. Now, as Glen Canyon reemerges, its surprising ecological rebirth reminds us that nature’s capacity to heal may well outpace our own imaginations.

Environmental journalist Zak Podmore explores the complex challenges ahead and reframes the inevitable loss of Lake Powell as a turning point for a more sustainable future. Through an arresting mix of science and storytelling, Life After Dead Pool debunks the notion that the West’s water challenges are unsolvable and invites us to secure a future where the Colorado River once again runs free.

“‘Life After Dead Pool’” offers an opportunity for a more sustainable future.” The New York Times Book Review

January 15 2025 5 pm

At KVNF Community Room

Join us for a talk and reading by Auden Schendler

A firsthand, trench-view story of the failure of the modern environmental movement--and an inspiring prescription for change.

Something's gone badly awry with environmentalism. We faithfully separate our waste into different streams, but wonder whether it really makes a difference. Global companies announce their commitment to carbon negativity while simultaneously sponsoring oil conferences. American businesses, communities, and individuals assiduously measure their carbon footprints, then implement voluntary emissions-reduction programs, all while trumpeting their do-gooderism.

The problem is, none of this--whether individual efforts or corporate sustainability tactics--will make a dent in solving the civilizational threat of climate change. We only pretend it will, at our peril.

As sustainability veteran Auden Schendler argues in this provocative, powerful book, we're living a big green lie. The hard truth is that much of the modern environmental road map could have been written by the fossil fuel industry specifically to avoid disrupting the status quo. We have become somehow complicit.

But there is another truth: while ineffective or duplicitous environmentalism has become standard practice, we all have friends and family we love and care about, whose future depends on solving the problem of climate change. Conscience tells us we have an obligation to repair the world. How can our common dreams be so at odds with our daily practice? And how might we meld our spirit and our passion to create a better future?But there is another truth: while ineffective or duplicitous environmentalism has become standard practice, we all have friends and family we love and care about, whose future depends on solving the problem of climate change. Conscience tells us we have an obligation to repair the world. How can our common dreams be so at odds with our daily practice? And how might we meld our spirit and our passion to create a better future?

Schendler meets this profound contradiction head-on--with a bracing critique, moving personal stories of parenthood and service, and innovative, real-world methods to tackle climate change at the corporate, community, and individual levels.

Terrible Beauty is a unique and inspiring call for a new environmentalism, showing us that the key to saving the planet is to tap into our own humanity.

Auden Schendler is SVP of Sustainability at Aspen One. His first book was Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Movement. Previously at Rocky Mountain Institute, Auden has been an ambulance medic, Outward Bound Instructor, Trailer insulator, Forest Service Goose Nest Island builder, town councilman, Air Quality Control Commissioner, and most importantly, an intern at High Country News in the Summer of 1991, when he lived on Rob and Kay Roy's ranch on Lamborn Mesa.

In celebration of its thirty year anniversary, Writers on the Range, the nonprofit opinion service is hosting a presentation by Kevin Fedarko and Pete McBride, Saturday, November 2nd, from 4-5:30 at the Paradise Theater.

From the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Emerald Mile, @kevinfedarkoauthor,comes the dramatic and moving firsthand account of walking the Grand Canyon with best friend @pedromcbride. In A Walk in The Park Fedarko recounts the epic misadventure of two friends with zero preparation and a shared dream: a 750-mile odyssey, on foot, through the heart of America’s most magnificent national park and the grandest wilderness on earth.

Pete McBride's latest book is The Colorado River: Chasing Water

Through photography and essays, this book is a celebration of one of America's most valuable and iconic rivers and a warning demonstrating the river is a bellwether of overuse and climate change.

America's Western water crisis is now newsworthy on a global level, and the Colorado River is in the crosshairs. The Colorado River is the most comprehensive look at this challenged resource that supplies drinking water to forty million Americans and supports five percent of the country's GDP.

While acclaimed photographer Pete McBride has covered water worldwide and been dubbed a "freshwater hero" by National Geographic, he now brings us home to his deepest passion: saving his backyard river, the Colorado. For two decades, McBride has documented the Colorado River, from source to sea and always with a camera in hand.

Through McBride's photography and his own words, as well as essays on climate change and river overuse, we witness the stark reality of our water crisis but also the remarkable beauty and resilience of this ephemeral source of life.

The authors will be signing books at the bookstore before the presentation.

Wednesday October 16 at 5 pm at Paonia Books

Filled with poems, illustrations, personal histories, essays, and stories, this is an anthology that will be dear to anyone in the west.

This marvelous new anthology by one of our favorite publishers, Torrey House Press, is full of love letters to the most abundant substance on earth from literary and environmental luminaries like Chris La Tray, Sarah Gilman, Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Aaron Abeyta, CMarie Fuhrman, and others.

We are delighted to welcome Editor Laura Paskus and Luke Runyon.

Laura Paskus is a longtime reporter based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has worked for High Country News, Tribal College Journal, KUNM-FM, New Mexico Political Report, and Capital & Main, and currently, is a senior producer for NMPBS, where she hosts and produces the television show “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present, and Future.” Her 2020 book, At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Nature/Environment. 

Luke Runyon is a journalist covering water and climate change in the Western U.S. He currently serves as co-director of The Water Desk at the University of Colorado's Center for Environmental Journalism. Runyon has spent his career in public media, reporting for KUNC, Harvest Public Media, Aspen Public Radio, and Illinois Public Radio. He is the current board president of the Society of Environmental Journalists and is a former Ted Scripps fellow at the University of Colorado. He lives with his husband Dylan in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Peter Heller's novels are among Paonia's favorites and on Friday, October 4, Peter will join us for a reading and signing.

Reading: KVNF Community Room 5.30

Signing and Cider: 6.30 Bookstore.

 Bestselling, critically acclaimed author Peter Heller returns in 2024 with a heart-pounding story of desperate survival in a dystopian America plagued by perplexing brutality.

BURN is an urgent and timely story that speaks directly to the January 6th insurrection. It follows Jess and Storey —friends since boyhood— as they make their annual pilgrimage to northern Maine. Although the state has convulsed all summer with secession mania, Jess and Storey don’t think much of it, that is until they reach a small town burned to the ground. What started out as a fun camping trip soon turns into a fight for their lives as these two men try to find their way home in what has become a dystopian country wracked by bewildering violence. Heller’s magisterial new novel is both  a blistering warning of a divided country’s political strife and an ode to the salvation of our chosen families. 

Peter Heller is a longtime contributor to NPR, and a former contributing editor at Outside Magazine, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic Adventure. He is an award winning adventure writer and the author of four books of literary nonfiction. He lives in Denver. Heller was born and raised in New York. He attended high school in Vermont and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he became an outdoorsman and whitewater kayaker. At the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he received an MFA in fiction and poetry, he won a Michener fellowship for his epic poem “The Psalms of Malvine.” He has worked as a dishwasher, construction worker, logger, offshore fisherman, kayak instructor, river guide, and world class pizza deliverer.

Join us for a reading with Karen Auvinen who will be in conversatoin with Amy Irvine Friday September 20, 2024 at 5.30 pm in the KVNF Community Room.

Don't miss a chance to hear from these terrific western writers about memoir and life in the west.

Determined to live an independent life on her own terms, Karen Auvinen flees to a primitive cabin in the Rockies to live in solitude as a writer and to embrace all the beauty and brutality nature has to offer. When a fire incinerates every word she has ever written and all of her possessions—except for her beloved dog Elvis, her truck, and a few singed artifacts—Karen embarks on a heroic journey to reconcile her desire to be alone with her need for community.
In its starred review, Kirkus said Rough Beauty was "a beautiful story of resilience perfect for readers of Terry Tempest Williams". 

Karen and Amy's event will begin at 5.30 in the Community Room. Books, signing, and cider after, at the bookstore. 

Karen will be teaching a class for writers on Saturday and offering individual manuscript consults for writers. More info in the classes section of our website.

Karen Auvinen is an award-winning poet, mountain woman, life-long westerner, writer, educator, speaker, and the author of the memoir Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living (Scribner).

Her work has appeared in The New York Times,LitHub, Real Simple, Westword, and The Rumpus, as well as numerous literary journals. A collection of short stories is forthcoming. She is working on a novel.

Karen is the founder of Writing Wild Workshops and is on the Graduate Faculty in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University and also teaches writing workshops at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, for Fishtrap Writing the West and Hudson Valley Writers Center, in addition to teaching film, pop culture, and storytelling to first-years at the CU – Boulder.

Karen lives in the Colorado mountains with the artist Greg Marquez, their dog River, and Dottie the Cat.

Amy Irvine is a sixth-generation Utahn and longtime public lands advocate. Her memoir, Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land  received the Orion Magazine Book Award, and the Colorado Book Award—while the Los Angeles Times wrote that it "might very well be Desert Solitaire's literary heir." Amy's other books include Desert Cabal: A New Season in the Wilderness (Torrey House Press/Back of Beyond Books, 2018), is a feminist response to Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness, published on the 50th anniversary of Solitaire’s publication and "Air Mail, Letters of Politics, Pandemic and Place," with Pam Houston. 

Saturday September 7 2024

5:30 Panel at the Blue Sage

7 pm Fundraising Reception for High Country News at Paonia Books

No matter the outcome of the November elections, Western communities have an opportunity—and an obligation—to play a leading role in conservation.

Join High Country News Contributing Editor Michelle Nijhuis for a conversation about how people in Colorado and across the West are working together to safeguard landscapes and wildlife. Grassroots conservation solutions take work, and patience, and a willingness to build trust across political and cultural divides. But when done well, they offer stability amid whipsawing political winds, and pathways to a more civil and sustainable future.

On Saturday, September 7, High Country News will host several events in Paonia, beginning with a Coffee with the Editor, Greg Hanscom, at 10 in the KVNF Community Room. Come chat with Greg about HCN, where they've been and where they are headed.

Then, join us at The Blue Sage Center for the Arts at 5.30 for a panel moderated by HCN Contributing Editor Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, and project manager of HCN's "Conservation Beyond Boundaries".

Panelists include:

Hannah Stevens, Executive Director, Western Slope Conservation Center

Hannah worked in botanical science for thirteen years leading the New York Botanical Garden’s Conservation GIS program, as well as consulted for national and international organizations. Her roots in the North Fork Valley were planted over 30 years ago when her family moved here and started an organic garlic farm.

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Cross Cultural Programs Manager, Montezuma Land Conservancy

Regina is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Towaoc. She has served on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council and as a co-chair of the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition and education director for the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose. She currently serves on the boards of the Telluride Institute, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Torrey House Press and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Jason Wrich, Regenerative Cattle Rancher

Jason Wrich was born and raised in Western Colorado. A self-described good-ol’-boy, he spent 15 years working in the local mines and now runs Wrich Ranches, a conception to plate, grass-fed and finished, all natural, Black Angus beef operation. They focus on sustainable farming and ranching practices while providing a healthy, all natural, nutrient dense protein for our friends, family and neighbors.

Panel is open to all with a suggested donation of $10, but no one will be turned away.

Following the panel, there will be a fundraising reception at Paonia Books from 7-8.30 featuring local foods prepared by Chef Joe Kerns, and Clear Fork Cider, and local wines. There are limited tickets for the fundraiser. All proceeds go to High Country News.

Follow this link to purchase fundraiser tickets!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-durable-conservation-solutions-for-colorado-and-the-west-tickets-978737208337?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Friday August 2nd, 2024

READING: 5:30 pm Paonia Books

CIDER AND BOOK SIGNING: 6.30 pm

PAPERBACK AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

We are delighted to host Ted Conover, whose acclaimed book, CHEAP LAND COLORADO, explores communities and topics familiar to North Fork Valley residents.

In May 2017, Ted Conover went to Colorado to explore firsthand a rural way of life that is about living cheaply, on your own land—and keeping clear of the mainstream. The failed subdivisions of the enormous San Luis Valley make this possible. Five-acre lots on the high prairie can be had for five thousand dollars, sometimes less.

Conover volunteered for a local group trying to prevent homelessness during the bitter winters. He encountered an unexpected diversity: veterans with PTSD, families homeschooling, addicts young and old, gay people, people of color, lovers of guns and marijuana, people with social anxiety—most of them spurning charity and aiming, and sometimes failing, to be self-sufficient. And more than a few predicting they’ll be the last ones standing when society collapses.

Conover bought his own five acres and immersed himself for parts of four years in the often contentious culture of the far margins. He found many who dislike the government but depend on its subsidies; who love their space but nevertheless find themselves in each other’s business; who are generous but wary of thieves; who endure squalor but appreciate beauty. In their struggles to survive and get along, they tell us about an America riven by difference where the edges speak more and more loudly to the mainstream.

Ted Conover is the author most recently of Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge, named one of The New Yorker’s best books of 2022. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, an account of his ten months spent working as a corrections officer at New York’s Sing Sing prison, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Conover’s other books include Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America’s Hoboes, Coyotes: A Journey Across Borders with America’s Mexican Migrants, Whiteout: Lost in Aspen, The Routes of Man, and Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep. He has written for publications including The New York Times Magazine, Outside, and Harper’s. Twice his work has been an answer on “Jeopardy!” He is now professor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

Sunday July 14 2024

READING AND IN CONVERSATION with Morgan MacInnis 5 PM

Blue Sage Center for the Arts 228 Grand Ave Paonia

Hardcover available for pre-order

Paonia’s own Paolo Bacigalupi will be reading from his long-awaited fantasy novel NAVOLA and in conversation with Morgan MacInnis at the Blue Sage Center for the Arts. We love NAVOLA— which some say is The Godfather meets Game of Thrones and received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly. More than a reading and conversation, this is a celebration and we’ll be toasting with Navola Negronis (ever had a drink with a dragon’s eye?). Morgan MacInnis, of Espresso Paeonia, has been in conversation with Paolo for years—about writing, about NAVOLA, and everything under the sun. Don’t miss this hometown celebration! Books will be for sale at the end and Paolo would love to sign your copy after the reading.

PAOLO BACIGALUPI is the author of The Water Knife and The Windup Girl, as well as the YA novel Ship Breaker, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has won a Hugo and a Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and he is a three-time winner of the Locus Award.

Friday June 21, 2024

READING AND IN CONVERSATION with Emily Sinclair 5 pm KVNF Community Room

CIDER AND BOOK SIGNING 6 PM Paonia Books

Hardcover available for preorder

Fifteen years ago, David Wroblewski’s debut— The Story of Edgar Sawtelle —released to instant acclaim. A #1 New York Times bestseller, the book was called a modern classic by critics and readers alike, and was selected as Oprah’s 66th Book Club pick. Blackstone Publishing is thrilled to announce Wroblewski’s highly anticipated follow-up novel and the return of the Sawtelle family: FAMILIARIS.

Just after EDGAR was published, through mutual pals, I met David and his wife, the writer Kimberly McClintock, and we became good friends. So I'm delighted that after the June 11 release of FAMILIARIS, David will be coming to Paonia to read, to teach a class, and to spend time on the stage in the KVNF Community Room chatting with me about writing, patience, and dogs, among other topics.  --Emily

The follow-up to the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling modern classic The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Familiaris is the stirring origin story of the Sawtelle family and the remarkable dogs that carry the Sawtelle name. It is spring 1919, and John Sawtelle’s imagination has gotten him into trouble … again. Now John and his newlywed wife, Mary, along with their two best friends and their three dogs, are setting off for Wisconsin’s north woods, where they hope to make a fresh start—and, with a little luck, discover what it takes to live a life of meaning, purpose, and adventure. But the place they are headed for is far stranger and more perilous than they realize, and it will take all their ingenuity, along with a few new friends—human, animal, and otherworldly—to realize their dreams. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, mysterious and enchanting, Familiaris takes readers on an unforgettable journey from the halls of a small-town automobile factory, through an epic midwestern firestorm and an ambitious WWII dog-training program, and far back into mankind’s ancient past, examining the dynamics of love and friendship, the vexing nature of families, the universal desire to create something lasting and beautiful, and of course, the species-long partnership between Homo sapiens and Canis familiaris

David Wroblewski is the author of the internationally bestselling novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle , an Oprah Book Club pick,Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writersselection, and winner of the Colorado BookAward, Indie Choice Best Author Discoveryaward, and the Midwest BooksellerAssociation’s Choice award. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle has been translated into over twenty-five

PANEL: Join us for a conversation on the current state of western watersheds and the role of storytelling in advocacy featuring Paolo Bacigalupi, Heather Hansman, and Jonathan Thompson.

Friday April 5 5.30-7 $15 suggested donation followed by a reception at Paonia Books to benefit Colorado Farm & Food Alliance. Reception and Panel $60—tickets at colorfarmfood.org.