Authors
JEFF LONG
Novelist, Historian, Journalist, Screenwriter
Jeff’s writing career has been extremely diverse, as noted by all of the above. His book awards include the Texas Literary Award, the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best novel, the British Boardman-Tasker Award for mountain literature and the American Alpine Club’s Literary Award. Several of Jeff’s books have been made into films. Duel of Eagles, his revisionist study of the Alamo, sparked intense controversy and acclaim. His novel The Descent was a New York Times bestseller.
Jeff is a veteran climber and traveler in the Himalayas. He has climbed Everest and Makalu and has guided tours in Tibet. In 1977, on his first visit to the Himalayas, he served three months in Nepalese jails on smuggling charges. That experience led to articles about the CIA/Tibetan guerrilla movement and the 1990 democratic revolution in Nepal. His novel The Ascent described both an Everest disaster and the larger tragedy of genocide in Tibet.
He has served as the OSCE elections supervisor in Bosnia’s first democratic elections during which time he interviewed Bosnians and American troops for the human rights and foreign aid group, Witness, Inc, which he founded. His latest project is “planting libraries” in a remote section of Nepal and helping build an orphanage in Lhasa, Tibet.
Jeff’s latest book Deeper has just been released and can be found in our local bookstores.
We look forward to hearing about Jeff’s adventures in these remote parts of the world.
You will find Jeff’s website at http://www.jefflongbooks.com/.
PAM HOUSTON
Novelist, Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Short Story Author
Pam Houston is the author of two collections of linked short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness which earned her the 1993 Western States Book Award, and Waltzing the Cat which won the Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction.
Her stories have been selected for the Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Awards, the Pushcart Prize and the Best Short Stories of the Century.
Houston has edited a collection of fiction, nonfiction and poetry for Ecco Press called Women on Hunting, and written the text for a book of photographs called Men Before Ten A.M.
Her first novel, Sighthound, was published in January, 2005. Houston is the Director of Creative Writing at U.C. Davis in California and teaches at many summer writers’ conferences and festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
Pam has appeared on the CBS Morning show from time to time doing literary essays on the wilderness as well as appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She lives outside Creede, Colorado at 9,000 feet above sea level near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Zonta Foothills is pleased to welcome Pam as one of our distinguished authors at our 3rd annual Authors’ Luncheon.
You will find Pam’s website at http://www.pamhouston.net/.
ROBERT CASTELLINO
Photographer, Author
Photography is a means for Robert Castellino to express his deep love of nature and the state of Colorado. He is not only a master nature photographer; he is also a book publisher, story teller, speaker, founder of Whispering River, and a longtime resident of the Boulder area. His adventurous spirit often finds him deep in the Colorado wilderness before the sun is up—and out there still as the sun sets.
A professional photographer since 1988, Robert considers himself a lifelong student, always working to perfect his craft. Robert has lectured and taught numerous workshops and has taught at the Music and Arts Conservatory of Santa Barbara. He has also produced various multi-media shows performed by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and the Rocky Mountain Sierra Club.
Robert’s breathtaking photographs are a result of both swiftness and patience—quickly setting up shots, then waiting for the ideal condition or moment in order to capture his beautiful and dramatic images. His goal is simple, yet profound: to share the beauty of the natural world and the wonder of life through photography and storytelling.
We look forward to hearing what captures his interest and how he chooses his subjects.
I feel blessed to have seen so much—and
to know there’s so much more to see.
- Robert Castellino