MEDIA ADVISORY
THE ASPEN WRITERS’ FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE CHANGES

(June 22, 2006) Aspen, CO … The Aspen Writers' Foundation, presenter of the Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival, announces a change in the lineup for its 30th annual celebration of words and ideas. Due to a family medical situation, author Tony Hillerman will not be able to attend the Festival, held June 24-29 at The Gant. A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and a Colorado nature writer will stand in for the acclaimed mystery writer at the Festival.

Author N. Scott Momaday, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel House Made of Dawn, will take Hillerman’s place of honor in the “Defenders of the West” program with former Secretary of State Stewart Udall. The event, held Wednesday, June 28 at 7 pm, features two of the West’s elder statesmen as they discuss how they have fashioned words on the page, in distinctive and different ways, to champion the Western causes that are their lives’ work.

Colorado author Craig Childs has been added to the roster of 20 award-winning and bestselling authors who will appear at the Festival. Childs, who lives in Crawford, Colorado, is a naturalist, adventurer, desert ecologist, and frequent contributor to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition His books include The Way Out, Crossing Paths, The Desert Cries, and The Secret Knowledge of Water. The Los Angeles Times said, “Craig Childs's writing engages more of the senses at once than that of most any naturalist."

Childs will be featured in the Campfire Stories benefit dinner, on Thursday, June 29th, and, along with Gary Ferguson, in the new “Adventures in Words” event on Monday, June 26 at 5 pm. This event features two outdoorsmen and award-winning writers as they explore the terrain of nature writing. This literary conversation will divine where the rubber meets the road between the romantic notion of adventure writing and the reality of research and science. This event replaces the “Who Done It & How” mystery event for which Tony Hillerman was previously scheduled. Please refer to the attached updated schedule for complete listings.

The Aspen Writers’ Foundation, Colorado's oldest non-profit literary organization, has been bringing readers and writers together since 1976. More information is available at 970.925.3122 and www.aspenwriters.org.

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