ML - Aspen Peak

2013 - Issue 2 - Winter

Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak

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SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY left: Writers in residence for the Aspen Writers' Foundation's Catch and Release program stay in a large barnlike cabin in Woody Creek. below: A writer's desk in the Woody Creek cabin. " e keep thinking the W next Great American Novel is going to be created here." The Catch and Release program provides free books by the author-in-residence and includes a public reading by the author at the Woody Creeek Communtiy Center. continued from page 88 of a retreat sense, and it allows writers to be really focused on their work." Originally made possible by the generous Catto Charitable Foundation, the new program's continued success is being carried forward by Daniel and Isa Shaw. An integral aspect to the evolution of the residencies, which launched in July, is a community reading initiative named "Catch and Release" (a nod to local fishermen), which provides free books by the author-in-residence and includes a public reading by the author at the Woody Creek Community Center. "We approach the publishers to make donations of books and our local staff strategically place them around town," says Brodeur. "The idea is you'll read this book, you'll love it, you'll pass it to your friend; she'll read it and love it, and so on. Then we all can come together and talk about it and meet the author." Chosen writers, who are nominated to participate by other noted authors, editors, agents, and publishers, and then ultimately deemed "a good fit" for the residency program by Brodeur, are housed in a cozy Woody Creek cabin with whimsical décor. Set at the edge of a small pond and with mostly wildlife for neighbors, the cabin offers what writers often lack most: privacy and uninterrupted time to work, without modernday distractions like the Internet. "It's a unique situation," Brodeur says. "There are other writer colonies around the country, like Yaddo and MacDowell, where authors go and work, then commune in the evening and eat and talk about their stuff. Here, they're alone and working. Obviously, the Writers' Foundation makes sure to welcome them and have dinners and lunches together as much as they can. But other than the reading, we don't ask that much of them." continued on page 92 photography by c2 photography —Mo LaMee 90  aspenpeak-magazine.com 088-093_AP_SP_SpGen_WIN13_SPR_14.indd 90 10/29/13 4:21 PM

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