CREATING A LITERARY MOSAIC OF AMERICA
SEVENTY-ONE WRITERS CREATE A SELF-PORTRAIT OF THE SOUTHWEST
DECORAH, IOWA November 2, 2024
For thirty-five years Free River Press has conducted writing workshops across the country for everyday people. Farmers, executives, teachers, ranchers, commercial fishermen, artists, retailers. African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, Anglos. To date the Press has published twenty-nine titles.
In 2006 New Mexico presented its Heritage Preservation Award for Publication to Free River Press for its title, Ayer y Ahora. Written in a writing workshop that was the first ofa series of workshops in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
The outcome of those workshops is Coyotes and Stars: Stories from the American Southwest, a singular work of Western Americana written by seventy-one Hispanics, Native Americans, ranchers and cowboys. Their stories depict life and work in the Southwest as it was eighty years ago and as it is today.These are stories of self-reliance and of families and communities that once gave the individual a sense of purpose and a role in life.
Rick Kogan of theChicago Tribune wrote, “Robert Wolf gives us on these pages a powerful and enlightening and even hopeful portrait of an America so often overlooked as it wildly spins. Through his writing workshops, he has nurtured distinctive voices that tell compelling, touching, humorous and meaningful stories. Dive into this remarkable book.”
Dr. Nashid Madyun, executive director of Florida Humanities wrote: “Coyotes and Stars is a captivating collection of stories that beautifully captures the essence of the American Southwest. This book is a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of preserving oral storytelling. Coyotes and Stars gives voice and agency to the people of the Southwest. A true literary gem that will leave readers enchanted and inspired.
Price: $25.00
Available through Amazon and Book Vault.
Editor Robert Wolf is executive director of Free River Press and the author of Jump Start: How to Write from Everyday Life, published by Oxford University Press. He is the recipient of the 1994 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for the year’s best radio editorial.
For a video on Free River Press accomplishments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJxHixXOQhQ