Greetings!
Thank you for staying in touch via our e-newsletter. Jean Schaumberg and I, the worker bees behind WORDHARVEST, value your comments and welcome your suggestions--and news of your personal writing successes.

We'll be announcing the winner of the Hillerman Prize for First Mystery and the Hillerman Short Story Contest at the conference on Nov. 12, and we'll post the names on our website after that. Thanks to all who entered. (If you'd like to join us at the conference, there's still room and one-day passes are available.) For other highlights from this year's conference program, check out this video!

Santa Fe in the News (Again)
Travel + Leisure magazine's "America's Favorite Cities" 2011 survey again puts Santa Fe (the location of the Hillerman Writers Conference) at the top or in the top ten in several notable categories. The magazine's readers ranked Santa Fe ranked especially high as a place for culture, fine food, peace and quiet, shopping, and romance.

The survey respondents compared Santa Fe to some of America's other great cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, and New York. An online survey that appeared on travelandleisure.com was used to gather ratings during a 90-day period this spring and summer. Thirty-five cities were included in the survey and respondents were asked to rate cities in seven different categories: Type of Trip, Nightlife, Culture, Shopping, Food/Drink/Restaurants, Quality of Life/Visitor Experience, and Best Times to Visit. Visitor's responses are published in the November issue of the magazine. Full results can be seen on the magazine's website.

Faculty and Alumni Updates
Sally Denton's newest book, The Plots Against the President: FDR, a Nation in Crisis, and the Rise of the American Right is due for release in January. The book already is receiving positive reviews from
Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. Kirkus wrote: "Investigative journalist Denton (Pink Lady: The Many Lives of Helen Gahagan Douglas, etc.) follows critical moments in the career of four-term president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who, demonized by far left and far right, escaped an assassin's bullet and a bizarre coup plot. In this tale of a popular president, resentful Wall Street bankers and wacko wing-nuts,the author has found a story whose parallels to today are eerie..."

WORDHARVEST and the Tony Hillerman Conference are mentioned in writer-editor Wolf Schneider's blog.

Several WORDHARVEST students and faculty are among the finalists for the New Mexico Book Award. Rob Kresge, Best Historical Fiction; Christine Barber, Best Mystery; Tania Caselle, Best Travel; Margaret Tessler, Best Mystery and Best Romance; Anne Hillerman, Best Garden Book; Susan Guyette, Best Nature/Environment and Best Self-Help; Joan Logghe, Best Poetry. The winners will be announced November 19. Bravos to you all!

Hillerman Conference featured speaker Jo-Ann Mapson was among the presenters at the New Mexico Women Authors' Book Festival sponsored by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation earlier this month. Past faculty Suzy McKee Charnas, Judith Van Gieson and conference organizer Anne Hillerman also were among those authors honored to be invited as presenters.
Judith Van Gieson is working with two different filmmakers on television series based on both her Neil Hamel and Claire Reynier novels. "Both of these filmmakers are wonderful. Working with them and getting to know them has been an amazing experience for me," she writes.

Sandi Ault was one of three featured authors at the second annual Conversation with Authors, sponsored by the Loveland Colorado branch of the American Association of University Women. Proceeds fund scholarships for deserving women. Sandi is teaching our pre conference workshop, "A Writer's Toolkit."

Santa Fe author Robert Mayer's twelfth book, his tenth novel-was published Sept. 13. The Origin of Sorrow is a 578-page book of historical fiction set in a Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt in the 1770s. Longtime New York Times columnist Robert Lipsyte has called it "a masterpiece." Congratulations!

Douglas Preston's comments on the case of Amanda Knox, the American held in an Italian prison on charge of murdering her roommate, drew international attention when they were published by the U.K. Guardian. Preston's own brush with the Italian legal system forms an exciting part of his non-fiction book, Monster of Florence. He will discuss his experience on Nov. 12 in Santa Fe. The talk is included with registration for the conference that day, or may be purchased here.

Author Hampton Sides recently gave the will deliver the Sirchio Lecture at Cranbrook in Bloomfield, Michigan. Sides is editor-in-large for Outside magazine and is author of the award-winning Ghost Soldiers, and other works such as Hellhound on His Trail, and Americana. A Memphis, Tenn. native and graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in history, Sides is part of the 2011 Hillerman Writers Conference faculty.

Romance and romantic suspense author and teacher Robin Perini sold four books from February to August this year, and will have four books coming out over the next twelve months. Her newest books are: In Her Sights, Amazon Montlake Romance (Nov. 2011) and Finding Her Son, Unwilling Witness, and Royal Secrets (coming in 2012) all from Harlequin Intrigue. Her book Stolen Lullaby received the Golden Heart award from Romance Writers of America.


Thank you to all who have registered for the Hillerman Writers Conference! We look forward to seeing you in November. If you'd like to come, there's still room for you.
Remember: You can connect with fellow writers throughout the year on our Facebook page.

Sincerely,
Anne Hillerman and Jean Schaumberg
WORDHARVEST





Connie Gotsch www.conniegotsch.com Host Write On Four Corners KSJE FM, Farmington NM www.ksje.com Author two award winning youth novels ‘Belle’s Star,’ and ‘Belle’s trial,’ based on the life of a real dog and written from her point of view. Available from Artemesia Press at http://www.apbooks.net and amazon.com, and Anazon,com Belle’s Star was a New Mexico BookAward in 2009 and 2010; First Place for Juvenile Fiction New Mezxico Press Women and National Federation of Press Women Communication Contests 2010’ Silver Mom’s Choice Award 2010.
Belle’s Trial’ won First Place for Juvenile Fiction in the 2011 New Mexico Press Press Women’s Commuication Contest, and a Silver Mom’s Choice Award for 2011. The book received an Eric Hoffer Award nomination for 2011.

Sept. 2011 Casa de Snap Dragon Publishers released a reprint of Gotsch’s novel for adult, Snap Me a Future as an ebook at casadesnampdragon.com