PANELISTS
Bethany Turner
Bethany Turner writes pop culture-infused rom-coms for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight. Bethany was a back-to-back finalist for the Colorado Book Award in the category of Romance, winning in 2024 for her novel Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other, which was also an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Romance. She won back-to-back Colorado Authors League Awards for Best Romance in 2024 and 2025. Her eighth romantic comedy, Wes and Addie Had Their Chance, was published in July of this year by HarperCollins. She lives in Cortez, Colorado where she serves on the board of the Colorado Book Award-winning Four Corners Writers. Bethany met her radio broadcaster husband in the nineties in a chat room called Disco Inferno and have been happily married for nearly 25 years with adult sons.
CC Harrison
C. C. Harrison is an award winning author of contemporary suspense and American West fiction. Her books include THE CHARMSTONE, SAGE CANE’S HOUSE OF GRACE AND FAVOR, DEATH BY G-STRING and THE WOMEN OF BANDIT BEND. She says, “I write books about ordinary women having extraordinary experiences because of someone’s mistake, and sometimes their own. Courageous women who find a way to overcome fear and obstacles to do what needs to be done.”
Meredith Blevins
Meredith Blevins has had nine books traditionally published and has about the same number in her trash bin. Two more books are in the works. Her Mystic Café series won starred reviews in all the trades, which surprised the bejeebers out of her. She has worked as a creative arts therapist, a financial columnist, and a dental assistant. She is also a five-time winner of the Magellan gold for best in travel writing. Meredith lived in Bluff, UT with her husband, Win, for twenty years, and now lives in Tucson. She has a rowdy, complicated family, including those in Bluff, and is a huge fan of true love.
Stacie Shannon Denetsosie
Stacie Shannon Denetsosie is a citizen of the Navajo Nation. Her clans are Todích’íí’nii (Bitterwater Clan), born for Naakaii (Mexican Clan). She is a fiction writer and poet. She was named a 2025 National Book Foundation 5 Under 25 Honoree. Her debut short story collection, The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories, was named a 2024 Southwest Book of the Year, a Foreword INDIES Book Award winner, and a 2024 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize finalist. Stacie received her MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Originally from Kayenta, Arizona, she currently resides in Northern Utah with her husband and cat.
Rusty Munn
Storytelling, both spoken around a campfire and written, has been an integral part of Rusty Munn’s long life. Years living and working in remote areas of the west has given him a distinctive perspective on our society and the natural world. The characters inhabiting his world as a wilderness outfitter and guide, a Forest Service soil scientist and global environmental instrumentation specialist gives him a unique look through which he writes. Rusty lives in the Four Corners area in Bluff, Utah, where he has further opportunity to live among nonconforming folks and desert landscapes to explore with his partner and dogs.