Tue, Dec 08
|Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse
READERS SPEAK!
What book changed your life? What book saved it? Join us for a curated evening where local writers & storytellers take the stage to share personal narratives about the literature that changed their life — the novel that cracked something open, the memoir that made them feel less alone
Date, Time & Location
Dec 08, 2026, 6:00 PM MST
Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 202 Galisteo St, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
About the Event
Draft an open letter to the author of a novel or memoir explaining what the book meant to you. This is not a plot summary or a book report, but a personal essay about the experience of reading. Where were you when you read the novel that changed you? Who were you with? Who were you? How were you changed by the experience of reading?
Submit your personal essay [submissions@savethenovel.org] by November 20th, describing what the book meant to you, and you could be sharing it with our audience on December 8.
Maximum length: 1,500 words.
How it Began
A monogamous lover of literature, S.E. Elkins’ entire life is chronicled on her bookshelf. In July 2026, she read an article in The Atlantic titled “The End of Reading is Here.” S.E. Elkins heard the call to action.
She began asking other readers about the books that changed their lives, about the stories that saved it. No…