New March Author's Hall of Fame Attitudes at Altitude newsletter

Attitudes at Altitude celebrates the outstanding authors inducted into the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame. It’s the first in the United States that only honors published authors exclusively.

Individual Inductees will be featured each month.
Past Inductees will offer their sage advice on "how they do it."
You will be the first to hear about Hall Events that are planned.
You will discover how to enter your name and work for the Aspiring Author Scholarships that open each March for consideration and when nominations for the new Inductees are open to the public.

Welcome to this edition of Attitudes at Altitude, the voice of the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame. We are in a typical March—besides Daylight Savings Time resurfacing, Arctic temps will come and go … and then chill us all out before spring gets a chance to come forth.

This year, the Aspiring Authors Scholarships will be granted to up to five selected authors-to-be. We are securing the location for the luncheon this month. Put this as a HOLD date on your calendars: September 16th. One of our previous Inductees will be the speaker plus there will be a few other surprises at the event. Denver’s Channel 7 will do a feature this summer.

All information is now up on the Hall’s website. It’s time to tell your friends that the "opportunity" is open. A press release will be out next week and we will be promoting it on social media as well as to friends of the Hall. You can find it HERE to Donate and/or submit a nomination.

I asked 2021 Inductee Sandra Dallas if she would share some of her favorite books with you. Indeed, she did. Her article, My Five Books for a Desert Island is perfect to use as a new summer read list. Two of Sandra’s books were included in the centerpiece that one participant from each table at the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame Gala in September received. One recipient came up to attend from Phoenix, Arizona. Taking them back to her over 55 community, there is now a Sandra Dallas reading marathon in force. Sandra and her books are the buzz!

John Dunning has revealed some of book collecting’s most shocking secrets in his bestselling series of crime novels featuring Cliff Janeway: Booked to Die, which won the prestigious Nero Wolfe award; The Bookman’s Wake, a New York Times Notable Book; and the New York Times bestsellers The Bookman’s Promise, The Sign of the Book, and The Bookwoman’s Last Fling.

He is also the author of the Edgar Award-nominated Deadline, The Holland Suggestions, and Two O’Clock, Eastern Wartime.

The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association awarded him the Dilys, its annual award given to the mystery title of the year which their member booksellers have most enjoyed selling.

As the owner of the Old Algonquin Bookstore in Denver for many years, he became an expert on rare and collectible books.

Books of Note: The Bookman's Wake and Booked to Die

John was inducted into the Hall in 2019.

Denver-based New York Times best-selling author Sandra Dallas is the author of 16 adult novels, four young reader novels, and 10 nonfiction books. She was dubbed "a quintessential American voice" by Jane Smiley in Vogue Magazine. Her novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.

A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years, she became its first female bureau chief. Sandra covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.

While a reporter, she began writing the first of her nonfiction books. They include, The Quilt That Walked to Golden and Sacred Paint, a biography of artist Ned Jacob. She has reviewed books for the Denver Post since 1961.

Sandra has published sixteen novels, including Westering Women, and four young adult books, the latest Someplace to Call Home.

She is a six-time recipient of the Women Writing the West WILLA Award, a three-time winner of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Wrangler Award, and has won the Western Writers of American Spur Award four times. Among other honors, she is the recipient of the 2014 Eleanor Gehres Award from the Denver Public Library and the 2014 Frank Waters Award from the Pikes Peak Library District.

Sandra lives in Denver and Georgetown, Colorado, with her husband, Bob. She is the mother of two daughters, Dana, a lawyer in New Orleans, and Povy, a photographer in Golden, Colorado.

She has a new book to be released on April 26, 2022: Little Souls.

Books of Note: The Persian Pickle Club and Westering Women

Sandra was inducted into the Hall in 2021.

View her introduction video below:

MY FIVE BOOKS FOR A DESERT ISLAND

Sandra Dallas

Not long ago, the editor of the alumni magazine at my alma mater, the University of Denver, asked several of us to list the five books we’d take if we were stranded on a desert island—or in that case, home-bound due to Coronavirus.

My first thought was the Bible. What’s more comforting than that? Besides, there are Old Testament chapters, such as "Lamentations," that I’ve never even tried to read. But I figured everybody else would list the Bible and I ought to come up with something different. So, these are the books I listed:

Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. I love Lamott’s books on faith. They’re all good but Traveling Mercies, her first one, is my favorite. She writes for people who don’t know what they believe, which is particularly apt in these difficult times when we’re trying to figure out where God is. Her favorite prayers are "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." I find that pretty much covers it. I almost listed her Bird by Bird, which is every writer’s favorite book on writing. My favorite chapter is "Really Shitty First Drafts" but I wouldn’t be doing a lot of writing if I were stranded on a desert island. Besides, these days, I need answers to bigger questions than how to write a book.

One Hundred and One Famous Poems. This 1928 volume belonged to my dad. When I was growing up, families had only a few books, and I read this one so often that it was tattered. I claimed it after Dad died and had it rebound. I liked to memorize poetry when I was little and loved the cadence of such poems as The Highwayman. At Christmas a couple of years ago, I recited Eugene Field’s Jest ‘For Christmas from memory. I first read Willian Shakespeare and Edna St. Vincent Millay in that book. And although poets such as James Whitcomb Riley are forgotten today, I still get emotional when I read his Out to Old Aunt Mary’s. These poems take me back to my childhood.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I’m 82 years old. It’s time I read it, and I never would if I weren’t stranded with just four other books. The Tenmile Range by Belle Turnbull. I was surprised that I picked two books of poetry because I don’t even like poetry that much. But I love Belle’s book because it evokes the Breckenridge I knew when I moved there as a bride in 1963. The poems were about the mining town people who stayed on after the gold played out. Some of those folks were still there in the 1960s. They had bonded with each other during the cold winters and short, bright summers. They even had their own colloquialisms; They said, "Us go Home now," for instance. When I wrote Prayers For Sale and The Last Midwife, I drew heavily on Belle’s poems as well as the novels of her roommate, Helen Rich. The two lived in a log cabin when I knew them and took their whiskey neat. Helen encouraged me to write about Summit County, and I did, although it took me many years to do so.

Jeannette Seibly has been an international business advisor for more than 29 years. She has provided executive coaching and management consultation to C-suite executives, management teams, association boards, and employees. She is an award-winning executive coach and keynote speaker with expertise in guiding leaders to get unstuck and achieve unprecedented results. Jeannette’s helped thousands make a positive difference in their businesses and careers. Also, she has held board positions since age 16, founder and chair for a 501(c)3, and an advisory board member for an $18M privately-held company. Jeannette is the author of nine books including The Secret of Selling Yourself Anytime, Anywhere, Hire Amazing Employees, and It’s Time to Brag: Business Edition.

Authors entertain, educate, and inspire us. Authors provide humor, insights, stories, and new possible futures. Yet, readers and others fail to acknowledge authors for all they do and the positive difference provided in their books, scripts, and other ventures here in Colorado. The purpose of CAHF is to celebrate authors. Without authors, we’d lead very dull lives! It's why I'm on the CAHF board ... to honor authors!

Support the Hall

The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame celebrates the accomplishments of living and deceased authors who have been connected to Colorado—their words, wisdom, accomplishments, and the life-changing impact their works create. The result: their legacy lives on.

The Hall is an all-volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that honors and celebrates authors connected with Colorado by birth, residence, temporary residency for writing encouragement and support, writing about elements within Colorado, or placing storylines in or about Colorado.

Authors’ words have immense power and impact on changing others’ lives. They solve problems, bring awareness to a topic, and provide hours of pleasurable reading. It’s the power of their words.

Your financial assistance through donations and participation at events supports the bi-annual Induction Gala in odd-numbered years, the Aspiring Author Scholarships, and the general operation to bring these events to the public.

Please support the Hall for this year going forward.