By Staff of Nevada Humanities
KWNK Interviews Conducted by Vanessa Vancour
One day is not enough time to take in all the amazing stories featured at the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl. In preparation for the event that took place in Reno on September 10, 2022, Nevada Humanities partnered with KWNK Radio to air several conversations with Literary Crawl panelists, artists, and contributors. Vanessa Vancour of Vancourage wrote and produced seven stories so that we could share a slice of the day with those who could not attend in person. Listen in!

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By Kathleen Kuo
Take a moment and ask yourself, when was the last time you sat down for a true heart-to-heart? As we navigate the demands of our day-to-day lives, we often neglect to pause and leave ourselves space for reflection. It may be rarer still to find time for a serious and cathartic one-on-one conversation with a loved one or trusted friend, when you have the space to talk earnestly and honestly about what is on your mind, or to be there for them and listen as they share their own concerns with you.

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By Shan Michael Evans
I’ve not once even seen our state’s bird, the mountain bluebird.
I suppose I should make an effort to resolve that.
The thing is, I scarcely go outside of my Maryland Parkway apartment anymore.
Redhead. Fair skin. The Las Vegas heat shows no compassion. I panic and complain, and I cry all summer. And the summers seem now to last forever.

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By Antoinette Cavanaugh
Recently, I returned from a trip abroad, a journey beginning at the south of France through most of Spain. While meeting people along the way, they were curious about where I was from in the United States. The typical dialogue was as follows:
“What state are you from in America?”
“I’m from Nevada.”
With an air of recognition, the usual response was, “Oh! Las Vegas?!”
Being a life-time Nevadan, I gave the geography lesson I have committed to memory.

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By Alycia Calvert
People are always surprised when I say I live in Las Vegas, like every time. People see Las Vegas as a one-stop shop for entertainment and excitement, and for the most part they’re right. We’ve got the lights, gorgeous hotels, roller coasters, and high-end dining, drive through wedding chapels, immersive art installations—oh and gambling if that’s your thing—all within walking distance.

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By Bruce Isaacson
My friend Moniro Ravanipor is an author who is famous in Iran. She’s in touch with women protesting there now. Her books reach for freedom and a rooted sense of justice. She had relatives who were killed, jailed, she was jailed herself, and she was subjected to all kinds of sabotage in the United States by the Iranian government.

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By Brooke Arita-Zamora
Familia
Artistas de vida.
Mi abuela pinta
Con sus manos,
En la cocina chiquitita.
Pollo con frijoles y arroz
Tortillas, tamales, pupusas
Todo con cafecito.
Ella y su hermana
Tia Elva

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The Online Nevada Encyclopedia (ONE) is a free and easy to use online resource about Nevada history and contemporary culture. This multimedia educational resource explores the history, politics, and culture of the Silver State. If you have access to the internet, you can dig deeper into all things Nevada at onlinenevada.org.

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By Michael Martone
At 11:30 pm Mountain Time the night before, I will catch Train 5, The California Zephyr, westbound, in Salt Lake City (I splurged on a sleeper) and ride through the night, over the famous Overland Route, to arrive in Reno, if I am on time (and there is a good chance I will not be on time) at 8:35 am Pacific Time to attend the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl.

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By David Michael Slater
Some consider the act of reading itself an escape. Diving into a good book, regardless of its content, can whisk us away from the trials and tribulations of daily life. Fantasy literature is typically considered, by definition, escapist, and no doubt that is why it’s such a popular genre. It’s hard to imagine a better way to leave the cruel world behind for while than by immersing oneself in an entirely different one.

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By Robin McLean
I’ve always been a solo writer. Why? Read on… It started long before I’d written anything, as a potter in rural Alaska. No lights through the forest, no road sound as I spun my pots—it changed my midwestern, very urban mind.
“Probably your brain, rather,” my dad said (a neurologist).
“How’s that?” I argued.
He was a shy man, an introvert.
“Think of trees!” he said, as if he knew.

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By Sapira Cheuk
Lake Mead is a reservoir fed by the Colorado River, which currently provides water for 40 million people. The stories about bodies that were discovered this year as the lake’s water level receded are salacious and immediate; however, these clickbait headlines are short-term distractions that lead our attention away from the more serious issue of the drought, with its long-term consequences for the 40 million people who depend on the river.

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By Mark Maynard
I’ve been fortunate to be a part of the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl since its inception, and I’m thrilled it’s returning after a COVID-induced hiatus. Attendance grows every year, packing venues on California Avenue and the downtown corridor. As the event approaches, I’ve been thinking about how the energy and love of literature celebrated once a year could become an everyday fixture for Reno and Sparks.

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Iain Watson
I have felt alone. I have felt abandoned. I have felt overwhelmed to the point where I had to take the time to reevaluate myself as leader of something that I have put so much time and energy into. I have had to ask myself, “is this really worth it?”, or "why aren't we thriving?" It is easy to point fingers, it is easy to blame others, but it is not easy to confront your own faults.

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By Axie Oh
My first ever in-person critique group I found through the local chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators here in Las Vegas. In 2012, I was fresh out of university and excited about pursuing my dream of becoming a published author. Showing up at the first meeting, which was held at a local coffee shop, several printed copies of the first chapter of my novel in hand, I was a bundle of nerves.

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By Staff of Nevada Humanities
Every year the Library of Congress hosts the National Book Festival that brings together authors and book lovers from across the United States. After taking place online for the past two years, this year’s National Book Festival will be held in-person at the nation’s capital on September 3 with the theme of Books Bring Us Together.

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By Michael P. Branch
After several years of COVID-induced seclusion I’ve been on the road lately, touring my new book, On the Trail of the Jackalope. But my run of 45 book events around the American West sounds impressive only to folks who aren’t writers. As any writer will confess, our readings are often stunningly modest, attended by only a few wayward souls.

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By Kesha Westbrooks
I could not imagine while I sat in my cell that my life would become what it has since my release in 2019. I spent almost four years in Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center for a first offense nonviolent money crime. I couldn’t dream that success was waiting for me on the other side of those gates. I felt like a failure and disappointment to my family.

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By Kathleen Kuo
We have all felt moments of nostalgia, waxed nostalgic for times and places alternately lived and not lived in. But I have always wondered, what is nostalgia rooted in, and what is its significance? Attempting to describe nostalgia is like trying to hold onto the last remnants of a dream—how do you explain these ineffable feelings and emotions that wash over you, when they slip away into spaces outside of your vocabulary and knowing? 

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By Liz Galvez
lemonade and iced tea
half and half
but not Arnold Palmer to me
sweet, soured summer lemonade
seeds swallowed, stuck in my esophagus and made me a lemon tree
medieval Egyptian origins now commodity

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