It was an honor to have Ken Salazar, former US ambassador to Mexico, US senator, and US Secretary of the Interior, in-store, sharing his valuable perspective on why representation matters in our politics and why cross-border relationships are vital to our humanity and future.

Gary Paul Nabhan is a man who walks his talk. In a reading and conversation with Christopher Merrill, Director Emeritus of the University of Iowa International Writing Program, the acclaimed agrarian activist and ethnobotanist shared stories from his memoir, Water in the Desert. As Merrill noted, the book is not simply a memoir of one individual's life, but a meditation on how Gary has spent his life cultivating relationships—with people, with the land, and with the natural world.

For over 24 years, Dr. Maceo Carrillo Martinet has been co-creating and implementing community-based ecological restoration and education projects across New Mexico and beyond. He put all that knowledge and fascinating information into his book, Healing the Land Teaches Us Who We Are, and to the conversation he had with his former student, now ecological restorationist Jared Wood. If we want to heal ourselves, we must begin by healing the land and to do that, we have thousands of years of indigenous practice to learn from.

"One of the best presentations at CWB!" said several people in the store and on Zoom last night. Arthur Sze, the 25th Poet Laureate of the US and proudly a Santa Fean, offered us a powerful night exploring the 'contour of language'. With readings in Arabic/English by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Spanish/English by Leo Romero, Russian by Irina Ross and English translation by Carol Moldaw, and Diné/English by Orlanda White, Arthur offered us the opportunity to understand the deep connections between the acts of writing and reading translated poetry. This was further discussed by Arthur and Ryo Yamaguchi, Publisher and Executive Director at Copper Canyon Press, in a conversation following the readings. Photo,L-R: Ryo Yamaguchi, Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Carol Moldaw, Orlando White (not in photo: Irina Ross and Leo Romero)

An extraordinary conversation about an extraordinary man! Author and Historian Sara Dant invited Miriam Horn to talk about her 'triumph' of a book about George Schaller, the founding father of modern wildlife conservation. Miriam spent 8 years poring over letters and journals, given to her by George and his wife, Kay, to write this first-ever biography of the legendary scientist himself.

Anne Valley-Fox and fellow poet Tom Ireland brought Anne’s dynamic and challenging anti-war work, "The Fight Across the River: [a meditation on war]" to a rapt audience, delivering a reading that left attendees breathless. They were followed by the cerebral, witty, and often irreverent Betsy James, who shared selections from "Infinite and Dangerous and Bright: Poems." Her accompanying art, currently on view in the CWB Gallery, remains on display through June.

In this extraordinary conversation between Steven and Diane Reyna, who was born at Taos Pueblo, a larger and more nuanced story emerges about the alliance between Taos Pueblo activists and members of the Taos Art Colony. Along the way, startling revelations surface about Leopold Aldo’s role in the decimation of New Mexico’s wolf population — details that complicate long-held narratives. For Diane, the book helped flesh out parts of her family’s history in new and illuminating ways.

At a moment when longevity is becoming one of the defining issues of our time, Michael Clinton gave us some fascinating data. Did you know....62 million Americans over 65 are living inside structures designed for a world where most people didn't survive past 62? In his conversation with co-founder and editor of Santa Fe Magazine, Owen Lipstein, Michael offered solutions and ideas on how longevity is being enabled by medicine, technology, AI, urban planning and more.