OLLI Experience: Go as a River: Author Talk with Shelley Read (Hybrid: TMI Building or ONLINE)

Click the + icons in the boxes on the right side of the page to view an additional section of this course. OSHR 3251 001 meets at the Translational Medicine Institute (TMI), and OSHR 3251 002 meets online.  

The location of your class (Online or TMI) will depend on the section for which you are registered. You must register for OSHR 3251 001 to attend this class in person at Drake Hall.

Set amid Colorado’s wild beauty, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter. A tragic, uplifting novel of love and loss, place and displacement, prejudice and family, wilderness and survival—and hope.

Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses. Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives.

Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola and the damming of the wild Gunnison River in the 1960s, Go as a River is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship, prejudice, and loss but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home—where least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a river—gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.

For those attending in person, a reception with coffee and snacks is included with your tuition.  

Shelley Read's internationally bestselling debut novel, Go As A River, is being translated into over thirty languages and has been optioned for film by Mazur Kaplan in partnership with Fifth Season. A Sunday Times and American Booksellers Association bestseller, Go As A River is also a 2023 Amazon Editor's Pick Best Debut, a Goodreads Choice Award Finalist, and a Colorado Public Radio Best Book of the Year, among other accolades.

Shelley was an award-winning Senior Lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades where she taught writing, literature, environmental studies, and honors. She holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University's Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She was a Dean’s Fellow in the University of Denver’s PhD program in English. She is a regular contributor to Crested Butte Magazine and Gunnison Valley Journal.

Shelley is a mom, mountaineer, world traveler, and fifth-generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope.

Notes

• A current OLLI membership is required to register for all courses and lectures.
• If you do not have a Fall 2024 membership, one will be added to your cart at checkout.
• OLLI membership fees and course tuition are critical to the Institute's sustainability and are non-refundable.