ST. GEORGE — Group discussions, speakers and music will be showcased at the new Community Conversations series this weekend in Springdale.
The monthly series is co-sponsored by the Zion Forever Project, Zion Canyon Mesa and Torrey House Press and will be staged at the Canyon Community Center located at the Springdale Library Friday-Saturday, Feb. 10-11.
“As the park’s nonprofit partner, the Zion Forever Project is proud to partner with the Zion Canyon Mesa on this multipart lecture series with lectures through May,” Zion National Park Forever Project Director of Philanthropy Stephani Lyon said in an email to St. George News.
The series provides a thought-provoking look at the area’s sensitive landscapes and encourages people to get involved in “the work needed to ensure these experiences last forever.”
“We are honored to have these thought leaders join us in Springdale, and we look forward to sharing future dates for these great conversations surrounded by the beauty of Zion National Park,” Lyon said.
The first night focuses on Creative Tensions: Wild Words & Wild Places, an interactive community conversation with Kase Johnstun, Laura Tohe and Kirsten Johanna Allen. Johnstun will lead the audience and speakers Tohe and Allen through this unique approach to group dialogue with a format known as “creative tensions.”
Zion Mesa Director Logan Hebner told St. George News he hopes the Community Conversations series will foster communication among Springdale’s residents.
“It’s an attempt to find yet another way for Springdale to catch its breath and re-reorganize itself,” Hebner said.
Hebner remembers when there were primarily orchards, sheep, cows, horses and only a couple of motels.
“It was just a sleepy, beautiful little town. And it now it isn’t,” he said.
Hebner said he would like to address issues in the community and have discussions. Zion Mesa will be bringing in a mix of local and worldwide speakers.
“Even though we’re bringing in scholars, writers and artists from all over, part of our mission radiates out from our own community,” Hebner said. “We’re trying to address the issues of the day on multiple levels and we’re starting at home.”
Friday evening’s host, Johnstun, is a novelist and essayist who lives and writes in Ogden, Utah. His novels “Let the Wild Grasses Grow” (October 2021) and “Cast Away” are published by Torrey House Press. Johnstun teaches at Weber State University, the Creative Nonfiction Foundation, the Graduate School in Creative Writing for Southern New Hampshire University and Barton Community College.
Also attending will be Tohe, the Navajo Nation Poet Laureate and an award-winning poet. Her books include “No Parole Today,” “Making Friends with Water,” “Sister Nations,” “Tséyi/Deep in the Rock” and “Code Talker Stories.”
Allen, the publisher and co-executive director of Torrey House Press, will be present. Since co-founding it in 2010, Allen has published more than 70 fiction and nonfiction titles and continues to oversee acquisitions, editing, production and marketing.
The program on Saturday will be Blood River: Music & Musings with Craig Childs and Greg Istock. Naturalist author Childs and musician Istock will offer an evening of reading, music, improvisation and conversation.
Award-winning author Childs has published more than a dozen critically acclaimed books, including “Tracing Time,” “Stone Desert,” “Virga & Bone,” and more.
Istock will provide musical collaboration and performance. Childs and Istock will invite the audience to look and listen deeply to the landscapes of the desert Southwest.
Will Neville-Rehbehn, co-executive director and executive editor of Torrey House Press, told St. George News many of these writers are also extraordinary teachers.
“Torrey House Press is in a unique position to plan writing workshops that center our relationship with the land, bringing together writers from around with three phenomenal instructors in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable,” Neville-Rehbehn said.
This weekend will also feature a writer’s workshop with the same lecture panelists from the Community Conversations. The annual Voices for the West workshop schedule can be found here.
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