TEMPLE: Telling stories of the past 150 years
By John Temple, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 9, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
I believe in storytelling.
That's one of the reasons you find Mike Littwin's rollicking account of his journey on the Crooked Road in today's paper. A good story well told is nourishment for the soul and for the mind.
While I love great journalistic storytelling, I've got to admit that fiction has a special power to tell us truths about ourselves and our society that it is difficult for even the best journalism to touch. That is why when I began to consider how the Rocky Mountain News should celebrate the 150th anniversary of the city of Denver and of the newspaper itself, I was drawn to the idea of enlisting Colorado authors to mark the two occasions.
Too often when newspapers observe such events they spend all their time looking back at their own work over the years. Readers see nothing new.
Why not, instead, celebrate the cultural richness of our community by giving some of its most creative individuals a platform to share their work with a huge audience? Why not leave behind for future generations a new set of stories casting light on how we reached this day?
The idea grew from a suggestion by Denver publishing consultant Laurie Brock, who showed me a fascinating collection of short stories commissioned by a London newspaper, The Times. It initially sounded relatively simple to do something similar.
Far from it, I discovered. But I'm delighted today to be able to tell you about our planned series, "A Dozen on Denver: Stories to celebrate the city at 150." Eleven accomplished Colorado fiction writers already have submitted stories we'll be publishing every Tuesday starting right after Labor Day.
They are Margaret Coel, Joanne Greenberg, Pam Houston, Connie Willis, Nick Arvin, Sandra Dallas, Manuel Ramos, Robert Greer, Arnold Grossman, Diane Mott Davidson and Laura Pritchett. I hope you recognize some of these names. If not, you'll be learning more about them when we publish their stories.
The authors' stories cover the period from the 1860s to the present. And all have at least one thing in common: Larimer Street, the city's oldest, is at least mentioned.
But to reach a dozen, we're looking for one more fiction writer.
And that's where you may come in. Laurie Brock, Rocky books editor Patti Thorn, longtime Tattered Cover bookseller Margaret Maupin, Sandra Dallas (managing editor of the series) and I selected the first 11 authors. I personally invited them to participate.
Now we're holding an open competition to find the best story set anytime in Denver's future. Laurie, Margaret and Sandra will winnow the entries to five and Patti will have the final say on what will be the last story in the series. The winner will receive $500 and have his or her story published in a 28-page special section we plan to distribute with the newspaper on Friday, Nov. 14, the day the city will kick off two weeks of festivities to celebrate its sesquicentennial on Nov. 22.
This isn't the only thing the Rocky will be doing in honor of this milestone or to commemorate its own 150th anniversary on April 23, 2009, but it will be one of the highlights of our efforts.
I think there's a place in newspapers for fiction. It's commonly said that a newspaper is fresh in the morning and fish wrap by the evening.
That's only partly true. If you visit a library and watch patrons scrolling through old newspapers on microfilm, a larger truth is revealed. Just as newspapers are a good way to find out what's going on in a city today, they also are a window to study what a community was like in years past.
The stories that make up "A Dozen on Denver" will reveal something about the forces that made this the city it is today. The winning entry will tell us what life in the Denver of tomorrow might be like.
I hope the writers among you will consider trying to join in what has been one of the most enjoyable projects we've done in a long time. And I hope the readers among you - and my guess is that's all of you - can spend August savoring the thought of a real treat starting this September.
John Temple can be reached at editor@RockyMountainNews.com or by mail at 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202.
Fiction contest
* Write an original short story - no more than 2,500 words and no less than 2,300 words - set in Denver in the future. The story must at least mention Larimer Street. Language and other adult situations should be appropriate for a family audience.
* Submit entries by e-mail or by regular mail. E-mail submissions must be sent as a Word document attachment to spotlight@Rocky MountainNews.com with "A Dozen on Denver" in the subject field. All entries should be double-spaced. Mail entries should be sent to Rocky Mountain News, ATTN: Patti Thorn, A Dozen on Denver, 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202. Entries must include name, daytime phone number and e-mail address.
*Entrants must be 18 or older and Colorado residents. The winning author must be willing to be photographed and interviewed by the Rocky. The story will become the property of the Rocky, although author will have limited permission to republish. Complete rules are online with the adjacent column.
* Deadline for stories to be received is 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15.
* The grand prize is $500 and publication in the Rocky Mountain News.
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August 15, 2008
9:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
karlfisch writes:
I was wondering why "entrants must be 18 or older?" We have many students at my high school who are excellent writers and would most likely create some interesting stories set in Denver's future. After all, isn't it their future as well and aren't they some of the "writers among us" that you invite to join you? It sure seems like you should give them the opportunity.
Immediately after reading the story last Saturday, I emailed the address indicated in the column asking this same question, but have not received a response. I realize you most likely get a ton of emails, but if you post the email address in a column like that one, I would've thought you might be able to respond more quickly.
Thanks in advance for your response.
August 16, 2008
9:19 a.m.
Suggest removal
cmasson50 writes:
What a great opportunity this could be for the future adults of Colorado to think about their city, inquire deeply into its past, and envision its future in a creative, positive, proactive way. Is it possible to expand the contest to include high school language arts/history students? What a great project-based learning opportunity your newspaper could give to Colorado students. If this project cannot be expanded, add an additional contest for students. Then compare the stories of the students to the "over 18" crowd. I think you will be amazed.
September 3, 2008
10:27 p.m.
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John Temple writes:
Thank you for your questions about allowing writers under 18 to participate in the contest. We definitely want to involve high school students in the project. We hope teachers will use the stories in their classrooms. Maybe they'll even invite the authors to visit. But when it comes to the contest, the winner must be able to enter into a contract with the Rocky Mountain News. We didn't feel comfortable doing that with a minor. We also didn't want to be inundated with stories from students who wrote their pieces for a class project. There's nothing to stop young people from writing their own stories. Or to stop a school from holding a writing contest and posting the winning story on YourHub.com. So I think there are plenty of ways for young people to be involved. But we saw problems with including them in the contest, so kept that door closed. I hope this helps. I'd be happy to discuss.
John Temple
Editor