Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Friends of the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library recognize local authors

LAS CRUCES – The Friends of Thomas Branigan Memorial Library partnered with Moonbow’s Book Nook this year for their annual September Authors Celebration – a recognition of work published by local authors.

Authors from Las Cruces and the surrounding southern New Mexico areas were selected by author and Moonbow owner Alice B. Davenport. Readers are encouraged to look at these names and titles to add some local writing to your reading list.

Lisa archer

This children’s book tells the true story of a dog who often goes to Bliss Elementary School in El Paso.

Mary Armstrong

Armstrong has lived in Las Cruces since 2010 and was quickly fascinated by the local history, according to their website. Her work is heavily influenced by the disappearance of the Col. Albert Jennings Fountain in the 19th century. Fountain was known as a lawyer representing the infamous Billy the Kid.

Nancy V. Baker

Nancy Baker

Baker is a professor emeritus in the Government Department at New Mexico State University, teaching subjects such as Constitutional Law, American Presidency, and Women and Politics. Her novels are described as thrillers set in foreign lands, with occasional romances. Her nonfiction books have been published by the Kansas University Press and are exploring the US Attorney General’s office.

Jesus Barket

Barquet is a Distinguished Achievement Professor of Spanish in the Department of Language and Linguistics at NMSU. His focus is on Hispanic literature and poetry, with many of his works written in Spanish and English.

  • “Needle of different”
  • “Without saying the sea”
  • “Sagradas herejias
  • “The Book of Heroes”
  • The Book of Exiles “
  • “An unbroken dream”
  • “Shipwrecks”
  • “No expiration date”

Darby Berryhill

Berryhill’s newly published memoir examines her early life as a “preacher child” and her subsequent recovery.

Bonnie Bostrom

As a poet and artist, Bostrom’s published works often examine the connection between the written word and the visual arts.

Judy Cicero

Cicero’s fiction explores improbable relationships – often from observations made in her work as a former social worker. She writes stories for adults and children and has even created the animated short film “Sour Grapes and Shadow”.

Myles Culbertson

Culbertson is the former executive director of the New Mexico Livestock Board. His book is a collection of stories and memoirs about life in the western United States

Alice B. Davenport

Alice Davenport shows off her book corner full of local artists in her Moonbow Alteration, Sewing and Gift shop in Las Cruces on Thursday 29th August 2019.

Davenport is the owner of Moonbow Alterations, which is also where Moonbow’s Book Nook is located. It introduces published authors from Las Cruces and the surrounding area.

Bob diver

Diven is known as an editorial cartoonist for the Sun News, although his art extends beyond the newspaper’s pages. He is an illustrator, paints portraits and murals and creates logo designs.

Maricela Duarte star

Duarte-Stern is originally from Mexico and has lived in New Mexico for many years. Her work for 2020 is a poetry collection in Spanish.

Christine Eber

Christine Eber, a professor of anthropology at New Mexico State University, distributes copies of

Eber is a professor emeritus at the Institute for Anthropology at NMSU. She is a retired cultural anthropologist and has been writing poetry and short stories ever since. Her debut novel is a finalist of the International Latino Book Award for “Most Inspirierend Fiction Book”.

Elmquist analysis

Anelise Elmquist poses with the book she wrote

Elmquist is a Las Cruces middle school student with a history of entrepreneurship. She wrote and illustrated “Cooper’s Tale” at the start of the pandemic, inspired by her dog’s reaction to having the family while staying at home orders.

More:Las Cruces middle school student writes Cooper’s Tale, a COVID-19 book

Devon Fletcher

Fletcher takes readers to the New Mexico Desert in his book, which provides hikers with information and history about the many hiking trails in the area.

Rosario “Chayo” Garcia

Garcia recently published a children’s book in which she shares her imagination with her family and her home community.

  • “Lady Gwendolyn is planning a picnic”

Rachel Glickler

The two novels by the dystopian author Glickler are set in a world that is experiencing a pandemic. Ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t started when she started the series.

LC Hayden

Hayden has published books in several series, including mysteries, thrillers, and inspirational stories.

RL Hayden

RL Hayden is the husband of LC Hayden. He writes paranormal thrillers, several of which are investigating alleged saucer crashes in the country (including Roswell).

Oren Hays

Hays’ work takes a look at the personal reconstruction that individuals face after the war.

Sara Hernandez

Hernandez is a children’s author whose works are available in both English and Spanish.

Alton Iörger

Ioerger’s debut novel is a fictional Cold War thriller based on the story by Sergeant James Witt.

Alexis D. Johnson

Fantasy is Johnson’s preferred genre. Their stories include adventures with dragons, lords, and class conflicts.

Yosef Lapid

Yosef Lapid

Lapid is originally from Romania and is a former NMSU government professor. He writes children’s books about a snowman’s adventures and a little girl’s efforts to save her home in the Amazon rainforest.

Lisa Lucca

Lucca is known locally for her radio feature on KTAL-LP 101.5, where she invites artists and writers to interviews. She has her memoir, “Ashes to Ink,” which will be out in October.

Rosemary Matos

H. Clark McCaffrey

Carlos Melendrez

In “Geronimo” Melendrez takes a different perspective on the former Apache leader.

Eric Norway

Norway’s books are influenced by his own experience as a former border guard and special agent for the US Drugs Agency.

Elva Austria

George Smart

89-year-old Las Cruces writer George Pintar has used his time in quarantine creatively by self-publishing five short stories about the Southwest.

According to his website, Pintar started writing when he was 87 years old. He has published collections of short stories, his character Chile Charlie’s adventures set in New Mexico, and books that provide advice and guidance to people in the business world.

Michael Potts

Potts’ novels and short stories are set in the Wild West with characters such as Sheriff McCloud and Dusty Stevens.

Bud Russo

The latest novel by the author Bud Russo,

Russo has had a varied professional career as a technical writer, journalist, travel writer and fiction writer.

Ann C. Salmi

Samuel O. Sanchez

Sanchez’s book contains short stories from his life in Arizona and New Mexico in which he speaks only Spanish.

Larry Stocker

Frank Thayer

Thayer is a former reporter and faculty emeritus member of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at NMSU. Three of his published works are journalism textbooks.

John Philip Wilson

Wilson is a retired archaeologist and historian at the age of ten with the Museum of New Mexico. His book is a collection of real accounts from the 16th century when the Spanish and others roamed New Mexico.

Ellen Roberts Young

Ellen Roberts Young, editor of Sin Fronteras magazine, reads a poem by a group member at the Palacio Bar in Mesilla.

Young has published several volumes of poetry as well as individual poems. Her book “Lost in the Greenwood” was a finalist in the most recent National Indie Excellence Awards.

Susan Lynn Zenker

Zenker’s work includes collections of short stories, plays and poems.

Leah Romero is the trend reporter for Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached on Twitter at 575-418-3442, [email protected] or @rromero_leah.

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