About The Festival

The Equality State Book Festival celebrates books, authors and the written word in Wyoming with three days of festivities in Casper, Wyoming, September 18-20, 2008. We hope you will join us for readings, panel discussions, book signings, writing workshops, a banquet, and a late-night poetry slam. Publishers, literary organizations and library archives/special collections from around Wyoming and the West will be there at a day-long book fair. All events are open to the public without charge except for the workshops offered by the UW/MFA faculty and the banquet.

The festival continues the tradition of the Casper College / ARTCORE Literary Conference, which has been bringing writers to Casper each fall since 1986. In 2006, we expanded, with a full-blown book festival. The Wyoming Book Festival, sponsored by the Wyoming State Library, followed suit in Cheyenne in 2007. In 2008 it’s Casper’s turn again. This year we will feature about 35 authors including Alexandra Fuller, Gary Ferguson, C.J. Box, John Gierach, Laura Pritchett, and many, many more. Between now and September, keep checking this site for news on the writers, their work, and our events.
Four, two-day writing workshops offering Casper College continuing education units will be offered Thursday and Friday, Sept. 18 and 19. The low-priced, two-day workshops will run for two and one half hours each day. They’ll be taught by faculty from the University of Wyoming’s Masters of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing: prizewinning poet H.L. Hix, fiction writer Alyson Hagy, nonfiction author Beth Loffreda, and Wyoming Poet Laureate, essayist, folklorist and accordion player David Romtvedt. NOTE: Workshops are capped at 20 students each and may fill quickly; register early!

Anyone else with a book in print is welcome, too, to reserve a spot for a 15 minute reading and signing at the book fair on Saturday, Sept. 20. Works from anthologies will be accepted for readings as well. Contact for information. These slots are limited, however, and will fill on a first-come, first-served basis. To register for the workshops, banquet and to reserve a table at the Fair on Saturday, click on the “register” tab. You will be taken to a page where you will click on another link to be redirected to a secure server where your credit card information is encrypted and will be safe to enter.  Click on “Authors” for more on their lives and work; and click on “Events” for more on times and descriptions for all the different events we’ve got planned.
We’d like to thank the following sponsors for their generous support:

- Casper College Foundation
- Natrona County School District
- Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund
- Nicolaysen Art Museum
- Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES)
- Casper Area Convention and Visitors Bureau
- Wyoming Community Foundation
- Natrona County Public Library
- Casper Area convention and Visitors Bureau
- Wyoming Community Foundation
- Rocky Mountain Power Foundation
- Wyoming Arts Council
- Fort Caspar Museum
- National Historic Trails Interpretive Center

And finally, we’d like to express our appreciation to Casper College and ARTCORE for two decades of steady support for an annual literary conference in Casper.

Equality State Book Festival Director:  Tom Rea
Equality State Book Festival Chair:  Laurie Lye

Conference Mission:  Established in 1987, the Casper College and ARTCORE Literary Conference strives to serve the campus, the community and the state by fostering an appreciation of literature by writers and nonwriters alike.  In addition, the conference offers an opportunity to:

1) Hear regional and national authors read and discuss their own and others’ work;
2) Participate in learning opportunities related to writing;
3) Network with others interested in literature
4) Receive encouragement and support