The Center of the American West will host its fourth annual Distinguished Lecture Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 featuring Hal Cannon, a Western folklorist, and Teresa Jordan, a teacher and essayist, speaking on, "The Stories That Shape Us."
The Oct. 8 talk will be at the Denver Public Library Conference Center. On Oct. 9 it will be at Old Main Chapel on the CU-Boulder campus. Both events begin at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public.
Cannon, founding director of the Center for Western Folklife and the Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering, has compiled more than a dozen books and recordings on the folk arts of the American West.
Jordan is the author of "Riding the White Horse Home: A Western Family Album," and "Cowgirls," a collection of portraits of women who work in ranching and rodeo. She also is the editor of two anthologies on Western women聮s writing featuring works by Judy Blunt and Patricia Limerick.
"The number of writers who discuss women in the West is getting larger all the time," Jordan said.
She believes Western writers have made a huge impact on American culture because they have discussed the West in relation to a wide variety of topics including race, culture, agriculture and urban growth.
Together, the husband and wife team will sing, tell stories and recite poetry of the West to explore how these rituals have shaped American culture past and present.
"The West is certainly a crucible by which America sees itself," Jordan said. "If we can learn to live sustainably in the West, that effect can go beyond the region."
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Denver Public Library.