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Attention Book Illustrators and Cover Designers!

Colorado Authors League has long been about the business of storytelling, and now we’re opening our membership to include those who tell stories through art!


Book Illustrators and Cover designers, we invite you to apply for membership and take advantage of the rich benefits that CAL provides its members from friendship to promotion

to a chance to win your very own CAL award for Illustration or Cover Design!


We want to promote your work, click HERE to see just one of the ways.

Read CAL's Statement on AI

UPCOMING EVENTS


June 7 Coffee in Colorado Springs


July 13 The CAL Awards Celebration


July 26 Coffee in Greenwood Village


Retail Opportunities Calendar




Colorado Conference Calendar


July 9-11 Mesa Verde Writers Conference


Sept 26-28 RMFW Colorado Gold


Date to be announced, 2025 Women Writing the West Conference

Introducing the CAL Speakers' Bureau


Are you searching for a speaker for your special event or book club? Look no further! Click HERE to find a Colorado author to fit your needs.

The First 2025 Award Winners Announced

Denny Dressman

Denny Dressman has been selected as CAL's 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Dressman enjoyed a long career with the Rocky Mountain News where he worked as reporter, executive sports editor, newsroom administrator and ultimately Director of Labor where he managed a workforce of 1,250. He keeps his hand in journalism as a weekly sports columnist for The Villager.

 

As author, he's published 16 titles with his 17th due this summer. Titles include Eddie Robinson: He Was The Martin Luther King of Football, Orchids and Butterflies, Game 163: The Epic '07 Wild Card Tiebreaker, and the Rockies Team that went to the World Series, and Living Vows. HIs impressive history includes his contribution to 20 additional books as either editor, contributor or ghost writer. Dressman, a past president of the Colorado Authors League, the Denver Press Club and the Colorado Press Association is the recipient of multiple honors and awards including a Pulitzer Prize nomination. He's also taught writing and editing classes at the University of Denver and is a popular speaker.

 

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Amie P. Check Named as CAL's 2025 Author Advocate

Author Advocate winner Check is being recognized for her many efforts in promoting local authors through book clubs associated with the Berthoud Community Library, as well as via the Berthoud Literary festival. "I loved how this festival brought our community together through books and created meaningful discussions as well as putting Berthoud on the literary map," her nominator explained. Check also hosts This is Berthoud, a podcast featuring local authors.


Both Amie and Denny will receive their awards at the 84th Annual CAL Awards in July.

In The Spotlight: Bethany Turner


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I’ve told this story countless times, so forgive me if you’ve heard it before. 

I won my first writing award in the second grade for my riveting and groundbreaking essay detailing why, if I could have lunch with any person living or dead, I would choose John Stamos. That’s right. While do-gooders all around me wrote about the important conversations they would have with world leaders or longed-for emotional reunions with great-grandparents, I dreamt of a sit-down with Uncle Jesse from Full House

If you’ve ever read any of my novels, this anecdote may not surprise you in the least. 

I’m a pop culture junkie, and obviously have been since a very early age. Probably before I knew my multiplication tables, I could carry on an informed discussion about the state of Prince Charles and Princess Di’s marriage or tell you who Elizabeth Taylor was dating.

Could I have used the space in my brain for better things? Maybe. It’s possible that if I’d studied the periodic table with the same fervor I applied to memorizing lists of past Oscar winners, I might have cured some disease or other. We’ll never know. What I do know is that those pop culture moments we experience have a unique power to unite us. 

Depending on your age, you may share any number of memories with countless strangers you’ll never meet. Did you watch The Beatles or Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show? Do you remember the first time you saw Michael Jackson moonwalk? Were you tuned in when M*A*S*H ended or O.J. Simpson fled in a white Bronco? How about when we learned who shot J.R. or Julia Child made Boeuf Bourguignon or Mr. Hooper died on Sesame Street

For better or worse, these are often the moments that define generations, and time after time they’ve been the moments that form bonds between my readers and me. I’m so grateful that roughly thirty-five years ago some judges of a writing competition recognized the importance of a little girl being herself and writing what she knew. 

Wes and Addie Had Their Chance, my eighth romantic comedy novel, will be published by HarperCollins on July 15th. In it you’ll find a small, quirky Colorado town, a guaranteed happily-ever-after, lots of laughs, and enough pop culture references to make that eight-year-old girl proud.

Congrats to CAL members who are Colorado Book Award Finalists!

Anthology


Four Corners Voices


edited by Mark Stevens & Lisa C. Taylor

The Future Lies

Sci Fi / Fantasy


The Future Lies


by John Be Lane

Cole and Laila are just friends

Romance


Cole and Laila Are Just Friends


by Bethany Turner

Fairest of the Fayre

Romance


Fairest of the Fayre


by Sheri Cobb South

Play of Shadows

Mystery


Play of Shadows


by Barbara Nickless

Death Valley Duel

Mystery


Death Valley Duel


by Scott Graham

Unmasked

Young Adult


Unmasked


by Kendra Merritt

ADELA'S MARIACHI BAND

Children


Adela's Mariachi Band


by Denise Vega

CAL Authors Release New Books!

Nested Loops of Love

Mandy attempts to break out of the nested loop of love in this debut dot-com romance.

AVAILABLE NOW

Nested Loops of Love

A novel about legacy, the cost of silence, and the price of speaking up, set against the backdrop of a changing America.

AVAILABLE NOW

Readers will enjoy this magical fantasy packed with action, adventure, mystery, and humor. And, of course, balls of fire.

AVAILABLE NOW

Nested Loops of Love

Now in audio, this book encourages and inspires young women to explore new opportunities in air and space. 

AVAILABLE NOW

King Cotton III: Jack & the Ripper

Jack Bailey is back and embroiled in some of the most notable events of the late 1800's.

AVAILABLE NOW

The Assassin's Heart

On this gripping journey, fraught with danger and intrigue, each page crescendoes in suspense and passion.

AVAILABLE NOW

A woman investigates a friend’s long-ago murder in this haunting and hopeful novel about the weight of secrets and regrets.

AVAILABLE NOW

Nested Loops of Love

Ben and Cow strive to create new lives on this journey of treachery, riches, love, and danger!

AVAILABLE NOW

In this homage to True Grit, a young woman makes a perilous journey west in 1863 in search of her gold-mining father.

AVAILABLE NOW

Nested Loops of Love

Easy-to-read, true stories of historic women aviators and astronauts of the world, now available in audio.

AVAILABLE NOW

Sick as a Dog

Can Veronica and her team decipher the sources of evil that have turned the Repentant River deadly?

AVAILABLE NOW

Dancing with a Demon

Welcome back to the "dangerous and well-realized fantasy world" of The Rifter Series.

AVAILABLE NOW

Bangtail Instinct

In this western, one lone cowboy fighting the system gives citizens hope for what the country can still be. 

AVAILABLE NOW

Sick as a Dog

Celebrate a decade of the National Park Mystery Series with this tenth anniversary edition of the one that started it all.

AVAILABLE NOW

Boo Bear's Light

Embark on a wonderful rhyming adventure as you learn the value of all living creatures, great and small!

AVAILABLE NOW

Sick as a Dog

As part of the "Poop Theory" series, this book teaches the importance of composting and how to compost.

AVAILABLE NOW

Only with a bit of magic and support from their friends will Jessie and Matt stay alive long enough to say "I do."

AVAILABLE NOW

A Friend in the Floorboards

This heartfelt narrative is perfect for dog lovers and fans of pet-centered memoirs.

AVAILABLE NOW

A Friend in the Floorboards

The epic journey continues in the second installment of the Rebalancing the Cosmos series.

AVAILABLE NOW

Sick as a Dog

Kids have big questions and real struggles. This one-of-a-kind devotional will provide guidance they can relate to.

AVAILABLE NOW


CAL is now an official Amazon Associate and may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

And Publish Plays, Essays, Articles, and Poems!

"Dark Sky Ritual," a poem by Art Goodtimes, was published in the Colorado Times-Recorder. Read it HERE!


Lou Dean has a feature article in the April/May issue of Guideposts Magazine. Her inspirational story is about a stray cat that showed up in her barn pregnant and starving, the challenges of the mama cat, and how "Favor" taught Lou about patience and trust.

An article by Lisa C. Taylor, pertaining to her novel, The Shape of What Remains, has been published by SheWrites. The article, entitled "Grief and Resilience in Fiction," can be read HERE.


A new essay by Kathryn Winograd entitled, "Memories of a Suburban Naturalist," is now posted at Terrain.org, along with several of her original photographs.

Linda Duval's essay, "In Memoriam: Author and Adventurer Stewart Green," can be read HERE in Rocky Mountain Reader.



Lou Dean has a feature article in the May/June issue of Angels on Earth magazine. The piece, entitled "Help Me Help Her," is about the challenging situation of caring for an older sister who can no longer live alone at home.

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The CAL Awards

The CAL Awards is now closed but will reopen for a new submission year on Nov. 1, 2025


The CAL Awards isn't just about books. We also have categories for published Poetry, Essays, Short Stories, Articles, Illustration, Plays, Screen Plays, and Cover Design!


Find out more HERE


Finalists will be announced in June.


CAL Awards Celebration will be held in July.

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Margi Evans was the 2024 CAL Lifetime Achievement Award Winner


Margi at the CAL Awards


Watch past CAL Celebration videos


79th Annual CAL Awards, presented by Jodi & Kevin Bowersox


80th Annual CAL Awardss, presented by Jody Pritzl


81st Annual CAL Awards, presented by Jodi Bowersox, Laurie Marr Wasmund, and Claire Fishback



82nd Annual CAL Awards, presented by Jodi Bowersox, Laurie Marr Wasmund, and Kathryn Winograd


83rd Annual CAL Awards, presented by Jodi Bowersox, Laurie Marr Wasmund, and Judy White

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