On Release Day, Almost Animal Comes to Grand Avenue in Paonia

On Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, Curtis Hall at Blue Sage Center for the Arts will have a book table, a signing line and a cocktail called Animal Spirits. Amy Irvine's memoir Almost Animal goes on sale nationally that same day. That evening she'll be in Paonia with Pam Houston, and Craig Childs will introduce them both.

Few towns the size of Paonia get a publication-day conversation with a writer from a major publisher. This one comes from a small, deliberate setup on one block of Grand Avenue: an independent bookstore, the nonprofit it created to pay for events, and an arts center a few doors down with a hall big enough to fill.

Two New Books and One Introduction

Spiegel & Grau publishes Almost Animal and lists its on-sale date as Nov. 10, 2026. The Blue Sage event page describes it as a memoir "about motherhood, liberation, and the natural world." Pam Houston's Animals Taught Me Everything came out from Torrey House Press in October 2026. Blue Sage says the book shares "the life lessons learned from animals."

All three people on stage live in the high country of Colorado. Irvine's publisher says she lives and writes on a remote mesa in southwest Colorado. Houston's own biography puts her on a 9,000-foot homestead near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Paonia Books' author page says Childs lives off-grid in southwest Colorado. None of them is passing through on a coastal book tour. A drive to Paonia keeps them inside the same Western Slope country their books come from.

The North Fork Valley visitor calendar lists the evening as free and calls it "the biggest literary event of the year." The listing says the conversation will cover "the special pull of animals in their lives, the fierce power of women in the west, and the deconstruction of western mythologies."

Why a Bookstore Started a Nonprofit

The Paonia Literary Project puts on the evening, and how it's organized explains how Paonia lands nights like this one.

Paonia Books has sold books at 234 Grand Ave. since 2022, according to the store. Its owner, Emily Sinclair, set up the Literary Project as a nonprofit that works alongside the shop. The store calls the pair "a community bookstore and nonprofit working side by side." The Project uses grants and fundraising to expand the programming the store has offered from the start, including author visits, book giveaways, workshops and performances.

The Project's own page lays out its setup:

What the Project Has Already Brought Here

The Literary Project started in 2025, according to a High Country Spotlight profile published Oct. 28, 2026. By then it had given away more than 1,600 books in the North Fork Valley. The paper reported a giveaway table this September at the Paonia K-8. It also said the books that go over best locally tend to match mountain life: titles about hunting and fossils, and Jean Craighead George's 1959 My Side of the Mountain.

Sinclair described the goal to the High Country Spotlight this way:

"Part of what we're trying to do is show kids that books are integrated in every part of our lives. They can teach you a lot and bring you a lot of joy."

For grown-up readers, the bookstore's event archive shows a steady run of author evenings:

• Craig Childs at KVNF, May 15, 2025
• Stephen Graham Jones and Paolo Bacigalupi at Blue Sage, Oct. 9, 2025
• Susan Tweit, talking about Earthbound
• Children's author Fleur Bradley, who visited local students in March

Childs has now worked with the Project from both sides: first as the featured author at KVNF and now as host at Blue Sage. That's a sign the Project's relationships with regional writers carry over from one event to the next.

One Block Holds Most of November

The bookstore, the arts center and the Paradise Theatre all sit on the 200 block of Grand Avenue. That's why an author night here can spill into a whole evening downtown. A lot of the rest of November happens within the same short walk.

Off Grand, Sacred Heart Catholic Church at 235 North Fork Ave. holds its free Holiday Craft Fair and Bake Sale Nov. 13–14, with handmade gifts, art, baked goods, sourdough and coffee.

Planning the Evening of Nov. 10

1. Register first. The visitor calendar points to the Paonia Books events page for registration.
2. Go to Curtis Hall. Blue Sage's calendar entry lists the room as Curtis Hall at 226–228 Grand Ave. The program runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
3. Buy books at the event. The listing says copies will be for sale and signing at Blue Sage.
4. Call the bookstore with questions. Paonia Books sells anything on its shelves whenever Espresso Paeonia is open, starting at 7 a.m., and you can reach the store at 970-361-2119.

The Writing Life Between Author Nights

Between the big author nights, Paonia Books runs FreeWrite, a free monthly community writing class in its back room, and lists it as ongoing. Community radio station KVNF produces Emerging Form, a biweekly podcast about the creative process. Its newest episode was posted Oct. 26, 2026.

High Country News still keeps its Paonia, Colorado, office as well. An August 2026 High Country News staff update said most of its employees now work outside that office.

At Needlerock Mountain Realty, we're glad to share Grand Avenue with a bookstore that brings writers like these to the valley. If you see one of us in the signing line on Nov. 10, come say hello. We're always happy to talk about the North Fork, and about the books that come out of country like ours.