CU Boulder鈥檚 MFA alumnus and Thompson Awards for Western American Writing contest winner Christopher David Rosales will be celebrating the launch of his third novel听Word is Bone听on Friday, April 12,听at Counterpath Press in Denver.
Christopher David Rosales
Written during his first year in the CU English Department鈥檚 MFA program under the mentorship of their illustrious faculty, Word is Bone, out now from Broken River Books, is one of several novels and stories that Rosales wrote in the program听and that were awarded first prize in the Thompson Awards for Western American Writing. Rosales won the Thompson Awards in various categories throughout his three years as a graduate student and graduate teacher at CU Boulder while writing, editing and publishing in the U.S. and abroad.
"The Center of the American West鈥檚 Thompson Awards were very meaningful to me. There aren鈥檛 very many opportunities like that, to听begin to learn and feel encouraged to do so, with so many wonderful people celebrating your hard work. Thanks in large part to that experience, there are a lot of things to be excited about right now.鈥�
91制片厂 his work, Rosales says: 鈥淏oth books are influenced by my time growing up in the '90s in Paramount, a southern California town in L.A. County bordering Compton and Long Beach.鈥澨鼿e explains: "It was impossible not to be aware of gang violence and hyper-aware of inappropriate power dynamics, while at the same time harboring a true love of the poetry that is cultural, artistic听and intellectual diversity. My books come from my hometown as much as I do."
Rosales鈥檚听first novel听Silence the Bird, Silence the Keeper听won him the McNamara Creative Arts Grant. His second novel听Gods on the Lam听was published by Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing. He currently lives in Denver听and is an assistant professor at the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa University. His books are available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. to learn more.
The Center of the American West is proud of Rosales鈥檚 accomplishments as a former Thompson Awards winner and is enthusiastic about cultivating an environment in which students鈥� writing can be acknowledged publicly through our annual Thompson Awards for Western American Writing Contest.
#WriteWest
CU Boulder undergraduate and graduate students, here is your chance to enter the 20th听annual Thompson Awards for Western American Writing contest, where you too could win $500! With no entry fees, there is nothing to lose. Deadline is 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, March 19.
Regardless of whether you call the West your home or you are just passing through, as a student at CU Boulder you live, breathe, eat, drink听and sleep the West.
Pick your genre.
Tell your story.
Take this opportunity to transform your unique perspective on this region into cash simply by putting it to paper. And you can do so in whichever genre suits your creative impulse: poetry, memoir, fiction, academic nonfiction听or creative nonfiction. You can even enter work in all of the categories.
So, search your hard drive for poems, stories听and papers you have written on Western-related topics鈥攐r write something new鈥攁nd enter the contest.
For contest rules and more information, 听or call 303-735-1399.听
The Center of the American West works on a variety of regional issues, including water management, relationships between federal agencies and communities and economies, land planning, Native identity, recent art and literature, and the balance of power between tradition and innovation in Western life.听听or call 303-492-4879.
