Collected Works Bookstore proudly features poets Cyrus Cassells and Kate Braid for a reading from their latest work. 

Cyrus Cassells is the author of the poetry collections The Mud Actor, which was a National Poetry Series Selection; Soul Make a Path Through Shouting, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won a William Carlos Williams Award; Beautiful Signor, which was a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award; More Peace Than Cypresses; and The Crosssed-Out Swastika. He is the recipient of the Peter I.B. Lavan Younger Poets Award, and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.  He teaches in the MFA program at Texas State University - San Marcos.

Cyrus Cassells' fifth book,  The Crossed-Out Swastika, commemorates the blazing integrity of young people caught in the vise of World War II.  Cassells follows the lives of historical and semi-fictional characters to amplify moments of almost impossible music, bravery, beauty, and redemption, illuminating the human spirit against unspeakable tyranny.  Reviewing the book, poet Li-Young Li noted, "In The Crossed-Out Swastika, Cyrus Cassells sets out to accomplish a genuine synthesis, to know the nature of the powers which thwart our human evolution, and to create a voice which can account for them and comprehend them."

Kate Braid is a former construction worker whose career as a poet grew out of the journals she kept while on the job.  She has taught creative writing at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and Vancouver Island University.  She is the author of the poetry collections Turning Left to the Ladies, A Well-Mannered Storm: The Glenn Gould Poems, To This Cedar Fountain, Inward to the Bones: Georgia O'Keefe's Journey with Emily Carr, and Covering Rough Ground.  She has also edited a number of collections, including In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry.  She was honored by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation as one of the Remarkable Women in 2012, and from May 17 - June 2, 2012, she will serve as Writer-in-Residence at Mabel Dodge Lujan House in Taos.

Kate Braid's latest book, Turning Left to the Ladies, catalogues some of the poet's experiences during her fifteen years of working in construction.  Of the collection, Our Times said, "Always clear and accessible, Braid's poetry is rich with vivid descriptive details, mini-narratives, character, and truths of every day experience, making Turning Left to the Ladies a compelling collection for women or men, whether they are blue-collar or white-collar, as well as for the poetry-averse and for the poetry fan alike."  Inward to the Bones: Georgia O'Keefe's Journey with Emily Carr is an imaginary journal that painter Georgia O'Keefe might have kept if she and Canadian painter Emily Carr had ever taken a trip together throughout New Mexico and British Columbia.  It was nominated one of the Literary Network's Top Ten Canadian Poetry Books for 1999, and won the Vancity Book Award.

Whether your travels take you around the globe or on short day trips, combining travel writing and blogging can be both fun and profitable.  Blogging is much like being a magazine columnist with the freedom to be your own publisher.  Discover how blogging can help you find or refine your subject, build a following, and create a book.  King teaches how to use imagery and metaphor to make your writing enticing and impactful.  Learn how to set up your blog and avoid crucial mistakes, publicize it, and build a following on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Santa Fe Place Mall - Heart of the Lotus Gift Bazaar

Come meet Belinda Vasquez Garcia, Albuquerque author of a historical fictional series, the first novel which takes place in Madrid, NM during the Roaring 20's and Great Depression. Filled with the magic of Southwestern witchcraft, and the fascinating history of the once coal-mining town of Madrid. A reluctant, third-generation witch and young Catholic woman clash with a Catholic secret society. La Llorona is head of the covens, Sisterhood of the Black Rose.

"A fabulous story. Readers won't be able to put it down."--Kirkus Reviews

On Sundays in May and June, Santa Fe-based singer-songwriter Laurianne Fiorentino hosts a series of local musicians and writers at Collected Works Bookstore.  She'll begin and end the two-hour event with sets of her own indie originals, and present a local writer and musician during each session.  On May 20, she will feature poet Barbara Rockman and folk musician Joe West.

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Laurianne Fiorentino's work emphasizes simple intimacy, femininity, space, and complexity - with lyrics of a surprising literary quality.

Barbara Rockman teaches poetry at Santa Fe Community College.  She co-edited the anthology Women Becoming Poems.  Her collection Sting and Nest was published by Sunstone Press in 2011.

Joe West was named the Santa Fe Reporter's Best Songwriter in 2008, 2009, and 2010.  His folk/country takes on UFOs, broken hearts, and trailer park liberals enthrall audiences wherever he hangs his hat.

Collected Works Bookstore features Jeff Clements, the co-founder of Free Speech for People, for a reading from his book, Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Than You Do and What You Can Do About It. 

Corporations Are Not People is a definitive guide to overturning the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC.  It tells the true story of how some of the largest corporations in the world organized to take over the American government and Constitution, how devastating this corporate campaign has been to America and Americans, and how the American people can reclaim freedom and democracy.  

Jeff Clements is the co-founder of Free Speech for People, a national, non-partisan campaign to challenge the creation of Constitutional rights for corporations, overturn Citizens United v. FEC, and strengthen American democracy and republican self-government.  Clements has served as Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts from 1996 to 2000; Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Public Protection & Advocacy Journal in the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office from 2007 to 2009; and was a partner in the Boston law firms of Mintz Levin and Clements & Clements, which he founded in 2003.  He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University Law School in 1988.  

Jeff Clements will be in conversation with author, playwright, mediator, and essayist Craig Barnes, host of the radio show "Our Times With Craig Barnes."

This event will take place at Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo Street, Santa Fe.

Collected Works Bookstore presents Anne Hillerman and Don Strel for a slide show and presentation on the re-release of Tony Hillerman's collection, The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other True Stories.  This edition of the book features a forward by Anne Hillerman and a selection of photographs by Don Strel.  A classic collection of nonfiction essays about life in New Mexico, The Great Taos Bank Robbery is a must-read for anyone looking to understand the state's unique charm.  Of the book, New Mexico Mangazine says, "From the opening relacion about law enforcement in Taos, through succeeding commentaries on Indian encounters with Paleface, a Nigerian guest's assessment of Santa Fe, and a search for Folsom Man... It furnishes myriad moments of pleasurable insight."

Anne Hillerman, daughter of the late Southwestern novelist Tony Hillerman, has authored eight books.  She is a director of the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference, which she helped to establish in 2001.  Don Strel is a photographer whose work has been published in numerous books and magazines.  He has served as the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico.  Their work has been awarded the 2009 New Mexico Book Award, the 2011 Southwest Book Design and Production Award, the Best of Santa Fe Reader's Choice Awards, and first place honors from the New Mexico Federation of Press Women and the New Mexico Press Women.

This event will take place at Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo Street, Santa Fe.

Collected Works Bookstore welcomes Santa Fean Gil Sanchez for a reading of his book, Viva Cristo Rey.  This fictionalized history follows a young Catholic priest as he is assigned to a town very different from his own German upbringing: Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Viva Cristo Rey charts the history of the Cristo Rey Church on Canyon Road, as well as the unique spiritual journey of one man and his parish. 

Gil Sanchez was born and raised in Santa Fe.  A graduate of the College of Santa Fe, he has served in the New Mexico National Guard, and has worked on the boards of Leadership Santa Fe, Leadership New Mexico, Girls Club of Santa Fe, the mayor's Citizens Police Review Board, the Cristo Rey Finance Board, Santa Fe Rape Crisis, and Santa Fe Mountain Center.  Since 2010, he has served as the director of Leadership Santa Fe.  He is a trained docent for the Palace of the Governors Museum.

This event ill take place at Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo Street, Santa Fe.

On Sundays in May and June, Santa Fe-based singer-songwriter Laurianne Fiorentino hosts a series of local musicians and writers at Collected Works Bookstore. She'll begin and end the two-hour event with sets of her own indie originals, and present a local writer and musician during each session. On May 27, she will feature poet A. Kyce Bello and musician Martha Reich.

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Laurianne Fiorentino's work emphasizes simple intimacy, femininity, space, and complexity – with lyrics of a surprising literary quality.

Poet A. Kyce Bello has worked as a freelance writer and editor, a registered nurse, and an herbalist. She is the editor of The Return of the River: Writers, Scholars, and Citizens Speak on Behalf of the Santa Fe River.

Martha Reich is a virtuoso songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. In addition to performing throughout the Santa Fe area, she is a Certified Music Practitioner who plays for New Mexico hospice patients.

This event will take place at Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo Street, Santa Fe.