Colorado’s literary heritage represented at National Book Festival
Books by local authors selected to represent Colorado at the 2024 National Book Festival.
Denver, CO. — Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book has selected two books to represent Colorado’s local literary heritage for the National Book Festival’s Great Reads from Great Places project, which strives to celebrate the local literary heritage of the 56 states and territories.
During the 2024 National Book Festival on Saturday, August 24 at the Washington Convention Center, Center for the Book representatives from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and Northern Marianas will staff tables to promote their book selections and other literary works reflective of their unique locations. The Roadmap to Reading is the area in the convention center where these 56 tables will be assembled and has been a part of the Festival since 2002.
The selected titles to represent Colorado are:
Adult: The Immortal King Rao by 2023 Colorado Book Awards General Fiction winner Vauhini Vara
In a future in which the world is run by the Board of Corporations, King’s daughter, Athena, reckons with his legacy—literally, for he has given her access to his memories, among other questionable gifts. With climate change raging, Athena has come to believe that saving the planet and its shareholders will require a radical act of communion—and so she sets out to tell the truth to the world’s shareholders about King’s childhood on a South Indian coconut plantation and his migration to the U.S. to study engineering in a world transformed by globalization.
Vauhini Vara is the author of This is Salvaged, which was longlisted for the Story Prize, and The Immortal King Rao, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Her third book, an essay collection called Searches, will be published in 2025. She is also a journalist, writing for Wired, Businessweek, and others, and an editor, most recently at The New York Times Magazine. She teaches at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Book Project and is the secretary of Periplus, a mentorship collective serving writers of color.
Commenting on the selection of her book for the Festival, Vara said: “How exciting it is to be selected for this program and what accomplished company to be in. I’ve already added several of the books on this list — some of which I wasn’t previously aware of — to my own must-read list. To be included among them as a Colorado representative is a great honor.”
Youth: Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by 2023 Colorado Book Awards Young Adult Literature winner Meg Long
A lone girl determined to survive. The feral wolf she must learn to trust. Only one chance to escape their icy planet: a race across the deadly tundra. As the girl and the wolf forge a tenuous bond and fight to escape ice goblins, giant bears, and the ruthless gang leader intent on trapping them both, one question drives them relentlessly forward: Where do you turn when there is nowhere to hide?
Meg Long is the award-winning author of sci-fi novels for young adults, including Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves and its sequel. When not writing, she’s kicking things at her Muay Thai gym with her partner, playing video games, or working at her day job as a content designer for Netflix. She can be found online at meglongbooks.com and across socials as @heeeyitsmeg.
Commenting on the selection of her book for the Festival, Long said: “It’s such an honor to have Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves chosen to represent Colorado in the Library of Congress’s Great Reads list for kids. The story of Sena and Iska, an orphan befriending a wolf, really complements Colorado’s frontier spirit, perseverance, and the idea that we should embrace the wild around and within us. I can’t wait for it to get in the hands of more young adult readers looking for stories like this.”
June 21, 2024:
2024 Colorado Book Award Winners Announced[Denver, CO] Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book honored the 2024 Colorado Book Awards finalists and announced the winners in 15 literary categories at a celebration on June 21, 2024 at the beautiful and historic Tivoli Turnhalle theater on the Auraria Higher Education Center campus. Finalists, press, supporters, and lovers of literature were in attendance to celebrate Colorado’s outstanding and diverse literary talent. The livestream of the event is available to view on Facebook and YouTube at FACEBOOK LINK and YOU TUBE LINK.
Colorado Humanities’ Center for the Book is an affiliate of the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book, a community of 56 affiliated centers promoting reading, libraries, and literacy across the country. https://www.loc.gov/programs/center-for-the-book/about-this-program/
Colorado Humanities, a 501(c)(3), joins with hundreds of program partners statewide to design and provide community-based educational resources and programs in history, reading, and writing, as well as offering opportunities for informed civic dialogue and conversation about challenging issues.
Learn more at coloradohumanities.org, or call 303.894.7951.