One Book Event Marks 23rd Year

On October 14, Shelly Read, author of Go as a River, visited the Cumberland Campus and spoke to students and community members about her debut novel. The novel is an international bestseller that has been translated into thirty-four languages and is in development for film with the Mazur Kaplan Company. Winner of the High Plains Book Award for Fiction and the Reading the West Book Award for Debut Fiction, Go as a River is also a Sunday Times bestseller, a Good reads Choice Award finalist, an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Debut Fiction, an lndie Next Pick, and a Colorado Public Radio Books We Love selection.

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 is a mom, a mountaineer, a world traveler, and a fifth-generation Coloradan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of Colorado’s Western Slope. This year marked the 23rd year for the One Book event sponsored by the Foundation.