Dear Festival Friends,

Wherever you are for Earth Day today, chances are the weather is shaping up to be weird if not extreme. Unseasonable frost in the Midwest, excessive heat in the Southwest, floods and tornadoes seemingly everywhere. Climate change has upended the planet so quickly and completely that the very mention of Earth Day—once upon a time, just a good reason to plant flowers and pick up trash on a highway median—can make us groan and pretend it’s not happening.

But don’t give in to the impulse—we Friends of the Festival are better than that! Since our way to make sense of the world is often through stories, we have a riveting one about our topsy-turvy environment. Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, by John Vaillant, combines drama and nonstop action with the high-stakes consequences of the climate crisis. John will be joining us at the Festival next month to discuss Fire Weather—a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award and one of The New York Times’ Ten Best Books of the year—and, despite the sober topic, we’re thrilled to welcome him.

A deeply reported work of nonfiction that reads like a thriller, Fire Weather tells the story of the 2016 Fort McMurray fire, a multibillion-dollar disaster that incinerated thousands of square miles of Canadian forest—once a place so cold and damp, it never burned—drove some 90,000 people from their homes, and served as a bellwether for the out-of-control wildfires that are now part of our climate reality. “Melville said if you’re going to write a mighty book, you’ve got to choose a mighty theme,” John said in a recent interview. “Fire is as mighty a theme as they come.” Fire Weather’s central character is the fire itself, so voracious and powerful it created its own weather system, filling the sky with lightning and raining down black hailstones. It burned much of Fort McMurray, Canada’s petroleum hub, to ashes, and took more than a year to run its course.

In his other books, The Tiger, The Golden Spruce, and the novel The Jaguar’s Children, John has established himself as a gifted witness to our increasingly damaged relationship to the natural world. He will talk about his important work, and how everyday folks can do their part for the planet, with acclaimed author, Guggenheim fellow, and longtime New Mexico treasure William deBuys. Bill’s many books include A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest, The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth’s Rarest Creatures, The Trail to Kanjiroba: Rediscovering Earth in an Age of Loss, and River of Traps: A New Mexico Mountain Life. His evocative short story “The Devil’s Highway” was recently released as a book featuring photographs by Joan Myers that document the changing landscape of the American West. It should also be noted that Bill knows wildfires up close—very up close: The 2023 El Valle Fire burned to within 100 yards of his house. You will not want to miss his conversation with John, and Bill’s own story of how he became a full-time writer—a Hollywood-ready tale sure to give you chills—is itself worth the price of admission.

To see John, Bill, and many other marquee authors whose stories add depth and color to our lives, including Anne Lamott, Jesmyn Ward, Tracy K. Smith, Tommy Orange, David Grann, Julia Alvarez, Hua Hsu, Diana Gabaldon, Patrick Radden Keefe, Javier Zamora, Arthur Sze, and Hampton Sides, click here now. Tickets truly are going fast, and some events are already sold out.

A heartfelt thank you to our Hospitality Partners

If you’re coming to Santa Fe for the Festival, our hospitality partners are ready to host you. For a complete list, click here.