Story Catcher Festival Brings Literary Luminaries to Western Colorado University

Come celebrate storytelling, creativity, and literary exploration at the 2025 Story Catcher Festival, which will be held at Western Colorado University from April 9 to 10.

The Festival, sponsored by the Mari Sandoz Society and Western Colorado University, brings together an incredible lineup of writers, poets, and thinkers for a series of workshops, readings, and discussions designed to find the stories in all of us and ignite the creativity we need to tell them.

This year’s event will feature a special keynote address by Joy Harjo. Harjo served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022, won the Poetry Society of America’s 2024 Frost Medal, Yale’s 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, and was recently honored with a National Humanities Medal.

Leading up to the keynote event on April 10 at 7 p.m. in the Kincaid Concert Hall, attendees will be treated to two days of discussions with a remarkable group of literary voices, including the eminent poets Pam Uschuk and William Pitt Root, and Western’s own CMarie Fuhrman, Candace Nadon, and Byron Aspaas.

The festival honors the legacy of Mari Sandoz (1896–1966), a groundbreaking writer and historian best known for her works chronicling the history and culture of the Great Plains. Sandoz’s commitment to authentic storytelling, particularly her vivid depictions of Indigenous history and pioneer life, continues to inspire generations of writers. The Mari Sandoz Society, dedicated to preserving and promoting her literary legacy, has long supported the Story Catcher Festival as a platform for emerging and established voices.

After 12 years of holding summer workshops in Nebraska, South Dakota, and at Western, this is the first time the Story Catcher Festival is coming to Western in the spring. For attendees, it’s a chance to connect with like-minded people, find inspiration, and gain insight from some of the most respected voices in contemporary storytelling.

“Hosting the Story Catcher Festival at Western is an incredible opportunity to celebrate the written word and the voices that shape our understanding of the world,” Western English professor Matt Evertson, who sits on the board of the Mari Sandoz Society and helped organize the Festival, said. “With the talent we’re bringing in this year, attendees will leave inspired and equipped with tools and perspectives for their own storytelling.”

 

All events are free and open to the public. For the complete schedule and a link to a live stream of the Festival, please visit western.edu/story-catcher-festival.

Story Catcher Festival

 

 

Author Credit: Seth Mensing

Photo Credit: Courtesy