The Spring Story Catcher Festival celebrates the power of storytelling and creative expression at Western Colorado University. Each year, the festival brings writers, students, and the community together to share voices, ideas, and stories that deepen understanding and spark connection.

9 to 11 a.m. RADY Center Auditorium 109

LIVESTREAM https://western.zoom.us/j/86428579516

• Emerging Writers
  • Sandoz Emerging Writer Scholarship Honorees (GPCW)
    • Lizbeth Bárcena
    • Claire Thompson
  • Story Catcher Emerging Writers
    • Brandi Blaisdell
    • Stephanie Johnson
    • Laura Mahal

2 to 4 p.m. RADY Center Auditorium 109

LIVESTREAM https://western.zoom.us/j/86428579516

• Workshop with Aimee Nezhukumatathil
  • How to Fall Down Into the Grass: Writing from Astonishment
    • Taking inspiration from Mary Oliver's poem, "The Summer Day," we will look to our sense of awe and astonishment for observation and inspiration. Ever get stuck in your writing and put it away, only to never return to it? In this workshop we will take a look at various hybrid forms (all while focusing on non-fiction) as a way to find a beginning (and end) to a project that may have previously given you roadblocks

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. RADY Center Auditorium 109

• Jonathan Rovner (Western Press Books Event and Reading)

Featured Speakers

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Born to a Filipino mother and Malayali Indian father, Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of five books of poetry: Night Owl: poems (Ecco, 2026); Oceanic (Copper Canyon 2018); Lucky Fish (2011), winner of the Hoffer Grand Prize for Prose and Independent Books; At the Drive-In Volcano (2007); and Miracle Fruit (2003), all from Tupelo Press. With Ross Gay, she co-authored Lace & Pyrite (Organic Weapon Arts, 2014), a chapbook of nature poems. She is also the author of the collection of nature essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (Milkweed, 2020), which was a Barnes & Noble 2022 Book of the Year. Most recently, she authored her second essay collection, Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees (Ecco, 2024), which was named a Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2024. Other awards for her writing include the Pushcart Prize, a poetry fellowship to the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Boatwright Prize from Shenandoah, and the Richard Hugo Prize from Poetry Northwest. Nezhukumatathil won the NAAEE’s 2024 Pepe Marcos-Iga Award for Innovation in Environmental Education.

Lizbeth Bárcena

Sandoz Emerging Writer Scholarship Honoree (GPCW)

Lizbeth Bárcena is a writer, naturalist, and architectural designer from Southern California, currently pursuing an MFA in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University. Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, she grew up in a quiet San Joaquin Valley town in Alta California. A desert lover at heart, you’ll find her in desert canyons and washes volunteering for the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and nonprofits in the Colorado and Mojave Deserts. A 2026 Literary Award Winner for Tucson Festival of Books in nonfiction, and a Semi-Finalist for the 2024 North American Review Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Contest, her work has appeared/is forthcoming in Witness Magazine, Writers on the Range, Burningword Literary Journal, and El Portal.  

Claire Thompson

Sandoz Emerging Writer Scholarship Honoree (GPCW)

Claire Thompson is a former longtime Forest Service trail worker, now pursuing an MFA in Nature Writing from Western Colorado University. With an MS in Environmental Studies and a graduate certificate in Natural Resources Conflict Resolution from the University of Montana, Claire has always been interested in the intersection of policy, ecology, and labor on public lands. Her work has appeared in, among others, Lit Hub, High Country News, Qu, Camas, and Terrain.org, where she was a featured contributor to the 2022 "Lookout: Writing + Art About Wildfire" series and a finalist in the 2021 nonfiction contest. She teaches English at Wenatchee Valley College and calls the mountains of North Central Washington home.

Brandi Blaisdell

Story Catcher Festival Emerging Writer

Brandi Blaisdell (she/her) is a poet, gardener, and photographer living in Southwestern Colorado. Brandi’s poems have been published in 3 Panel Poetry, Word Honey, and Utopian Futures zines; exhibited in the interactive multimedia art collaborations with Tad Smith Voices Inside My Head and Voices Inside My Head: Echo; and Four Corners Writers Anthology Four Corners Voices Vol. 2. Brandi currently works for a multinational consulting firm as a project manager writing and managing proposals and engineering technical documents. As an emerging writer, Brandi has the goal of publishing a book of poetry.

Stephanie Johnson

Story Catcher Festival Emerging Writer

Stephanie Johnson (she/her) is a writer and poet, currently pursuing an MFA in Nature Writing from Western Colorado University. Stephanie’s roots wind beneath her family’s 100-year-old farm in Indiana and her current home in Kentucky. Her writing is saturated with equal parts nostalgia and discovery and explores themes of home, sustainability, and reciprocal relationships between self and place. Her work has appeared in Pegasus, the literary journal for the Kentucky State Poetry Society, The Hanoverian, and Gravity Magazine. Discover more: https://substack.com/@earthistephi

Laura Mahal

Story Catcher Festival Emerging Writer

Laura Mahal (she/her) is a prolific writer, poet, copy editor, veterans’ advocate and mom, based in Northern Colorado. She’s wrapping up an MFA in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University this July with a host of talented save-this-earth peers. Laura’s a two-time winner of the Hecla Award for Speculative Fiction and a 2023 graduate of Lighthouse Writers Book Project. She’s currently working on an absurdist novel aiming to put metaphorical David Lynch movies and Tom Waits' songs into complex conversations about motherhood. Her most recent poetry appears in Quarter After Eight, with upcoming essays and poetry in Veterans’ Voices, but you can take a gander at her out-of-date author’s page at www.lauramahalwriter.com.

Jonathan Rovner

Jonathan Rovner has taught in Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Colorado, and Iraq. His first collection, All the Old Stories, is forthcoming from Western Press Books. He works in the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Iowa and lives in Coralville, Iowa with his special-needs dog and others.

With Gratitude to the Following:

Our Generous Donors

• The Mari Sandoz Societymarisandozsociety.org
• Western Colorado University
  • Department of Communication Arts, Languages and Literature (CALL)
  • The English Program
  • The Graduate Program in Creative Writing
  • WordHorde Creative Writing Club
  • The Council for Creative Expression
  • The Resiliency Studies Fund
  • Offices of the President, the Provost and Student Affairs

With Crucial Assistance from

• Elizabeth Chase – Executive Secretary, Mari Sandoz Society
• Shannon Smith – President, Mari Sandoz Society
• Cindy Petitio – Administrative Assistant, CALL Department, WCU
• Tamara Toomey – Chair, CALL Department, WCU
• Seth Mensing – Media & Communications Manager, WCU
• Reilly Selinger – Annual Giving Coordinator, WCU Foundation
• Benjamin Justice – Chair of Music and Kinkaid Concert Hall Maestro, WCU
• Kelley Jones – Administrative Assistant, RADY manager, WCU/CU Boulder
• Andrew Flebbe – Campus AV Manager, WCU
• Arvin Ramgoolam – Owner, Townie Books (Crested Butte) and Organizer of the Mountain Words Festival (May 21-24) mtnwords.org

AND SO MANY OTHERS! Thank you to the Western Community for all your support!