BOOKFEST UPDATE: Here are the writers who thus far have committed to present at the Equality State Book Festival Oct. 19-21 in Casper: Mark Spragg, Annie Proulx, Candy Moulton, Lori Van Pelt, Tim Sandlin, Bob Roripaugh, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Linda Hasselstrom, Elaine Alphin, Zak Pullen, Todd Strasser, Nancy Curtis, Eugene Gagliano, C.J. Box, Craig Allen Johnson, John D. Nesbitt, Geoff O’Gara, and Tom Rea. This list doesn’t include the names of the UW creative writing faculty that will teach workshops for the Casper College Literary Conference on Oct. 19-20, as that line-up has not been finalized. The literary conference is being held as part of the bookfest, and will include a reading by the Wyoming Arts Council poetry fellowship judge and the three fellowship winners. This is the 20^th anniversary of the conference, and the fourth year that WAC has teamed up with CC, the CC Foundation, and ARTCORE to conduct the conference. Other bookfest events will be held in downtown Casper businesses, the Nicolaysen Art Museum, the Natrona County Public Library, and the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. Events will be free, although workshop participants will pay a fee. Vendors will pay a fee to showcase their wares on Saturday at (we hope) the Nic. The Equality State Book Festival planning committee is working with the school district to schedule appearances by several writers and illustrators, as well as a celebrity guest. Stay tuned for further developments.

- posted by Michael Shay @ 9:58 AM