North Park

The American West as Living Space: A Reading & Discussion Series

Monday, July 25, 2016 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm
  • Conference Room - Administration Wing

Pulitzer-inspired readings and conversations for those who love the West.

THANKS FOR YOUR ENTHUSIASM, STEAMBOAT! THIS GROUP IS NOW FILLED TO CAPACITY.

In honor of the Pulitzer Prizes' 2016 centennial celebration, Bud Werner Memorial Library is hosting a four-part reading and discussion series surrounding “The American West as Living Space.” Before each meeting participants will read selections about the American West written by Pulitzer-recognized authors. Local scholar Lynn Ross-Bryant will facilitate Steamboat Springs' community conversations surrounding the reading selections. This program is part of the Colorado Humanities Pulitzer Campfires Project.

The series meets from 5:30-7 p.m. on four Mondays:  June 27, July 25, August 15, and September 12.

All participants will receive a free copy of the “American West as Living Space” reader, which includes nonfiction, journalism, fiction, and poetry from works such as Wallace Stegner’s The American West as Living Space, Elizabeth Fenn’s Encounter at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People, Los Angeles Times articles that explore the California drought, fictional works by Annie Proulx, Louise Erdrich, and N. Scott Momaday, and wonderful poetry selections by Gary Snyder, Robert Hass, and Kay Ryan.

This program is sponsored by Colorado Humanities, which received a grant for a proposal focusing on Pulitzer Prize-winning literature about the American West and prepared the free reader for participants. The reader was developed in consultation with Dr. Ronald Edgerton, University of Northern Colorado history professor emeritus and avid reader about the West.

Lynn Ross-Bryant

About the facilitator
Lynn Ross-Bryant moved to Steamboat in 2010 after she retired  from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she taught Religious Studies for 25 years. Originally from Nevada, she always had an interest in the American West and after going to the “East” for graduate school at the University of Chicago, she was delighted to return to the West for her teaching career. With a Ph.D. in Religion and Culture, she taught classes at California State University Chico, the University of Southern California, and then CU Boulder in the cultural aspects of religion. American religions were her primary focus and the American West became central as she collaborated with the Center of the American West at the University. In 2012 she published Pilgrimage to the National Parks: Religion and Nature in the United States, which focuses on the National Parks in the American West and the way they both reflect and create an American identity that will be explored in the readings for this discussion group.

Want to join The American West as Living Space reading group? Sign up!
THANKS FOR YOUR ENTHUSIASM, STEAMBOAT! THIS GROUP IS NOW FILLED TO CAPACITY.

This workshop is limited to 40 participants. Participants are asked to commit to the readings and attend most of the sessions. To sign up, you must contact Adult Programs Coordinator Jennie Lay by email or by calling 879-0240x317. Once your space is confirmed, further information will follow.

About the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires Initiative
This program is part of the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires Initiative, a joint venture of the Pulitzer Prizes Board and the Federation of State Humanities Councils in celebration of the 2016 centennial of the Prizes. The initiative seeks to illuminate the impact of journalism and the humanities on American life today, to imagine their future and to inspire new generations to consider the values represented by the body of Pulitzer Prize-winning work. For their generous support for the Campfires Initiative, we thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Pulitzer Prizes Board, and Columbia University.