Description

Grab a lawn chair or blanket and follow the half-mile long torch-lit path to the river behind Recapture Lodge to listen to selected authors from the Ellen Meloy Desert Fund for Writers.

The Ellen Meloy Fund supports writers whose work reflects the spirit and passion for the desert embodied in Meloy’s writing and in her commitment to a “deep map of place.”

Writer and scientist Rebecca Lawton will read from her 2019 book, The Oasis this Time: Living and Dying with Water in the West. Lawton was the first winner of the Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writer’s Award.

The featured speaker at this year’s festival is Leath Tonino, the 2019 recipient of the Ellen Meloy Desert Writer’s Award. Leath has published more than 135 articles and essays in a variety of journals and magazines. His work as a writer frequently takes him outdoors and into mountains, plains, and deserts across the U.S. He is predominantly a writer of the wild backcountry wherever he can find it. Mr. Tonino’s proposal to the Meloy Fund sought grant support to allow him to take five-week-long solo trips into portions of the Grand Staircase—Escalante National Monument which the Trump Administration has removed from the original boundaries created by President Obama.

If you’re in a mood to sing, show up at 6:30 pm to join a community sing-along and jam session!