Writers Weekend Update

Jean Schaumberg and I are delighted to report that we have 50 registrations for the Tony Hillerman Writers Weekend. The rooms we set asside at the hotel have filled, but the Inn and Spa at Loretto is extending the conference discount to our attendees as long as rooms as available. At last report, that won't be for long. There are other hotels in the area--this is downtown Santa Fe, after all. But if you're planning to come to our party and haven't registered, now is the time to get your hotel room!

Don Strel and I will present the slide show based on our book, Tony Hillerman's Landscape: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn, at the conference as a bonus to attendees. The program features beautiful pictures of the country my father wrote about, quotes from his novels, and my reflections on Dad and the landscape. We were touched and honored that the book won the 2010 Art Book Award from the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers at their conference in Denver.

And more good news....Margaret Coel has received the Frank Waters Award in recognition of her lifetime of good writing. And, out there somewhere, is the 2010 winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize for best first mystery. We don't know whom (so don't try to bribe us), but we're excited to have a winner and hope he or she will be able to come to Santa Fe to get the prize in person.

Santa Fe is sunny, warm and gorgeous today, and filled with folks on their way to the international balloon fiesta. The big event, which opens tomorrow in Albuquerque, runs through next weekend (Oct. 10) and fills the sky with amazing shapes and colors. Wish you were here!