Michael Branch
2024 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Inductee, 2017 Silver Pen Awardee

Michael Branch is University Foundation Professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is the author of more than 300 essays, which have appeared in venues including CNN, San Francisco Chronicle, Slate, Outside, Pacific Standard, Orion, Ecotone, National Parks, The Scientist, and High Country News. Mike has published ten books, including his trilogy of place-based humor writing from the Great Basin Desert: Raising Wild, Rants from the Hill, and How to Cuss in Western. His creative nonfiction includes pieces recognized as Notable Essays in The Best American Essays, The Best Creative Nonfiction, and The Best American Science and Nature Writing. He has received the Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame, the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award, and the Montana Prize for Humor. Mike’s most recent book, On the Trail of the Jackalope, has been called “an entertaining and enlightening road trip to the heart of an American legend.”

Laura Newman
2024 Silver Pen Awardee

Laura Newman is the author of story collection The Franklin Avenue Rookery for Wayward Babies and forthcoming The Darling of the Black Rock Desert – Three Novellas, Delphinium Books. Her writing has been printed in The Saturday Evening Post, Literary Hub, Failbetter, Apricity Magazine, New Plains Review, as well as earning finalist in LitMag’s Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction.

Prior to publishing, Laura was the first female General Sales Manager in KOLO TV’s 60+ year history. She received the American Advertising Federation’s Community Contribution Award for her media campaigns combating substance use issues. Laura is a many-time winner the Reno News and Review Short Fiction contest. The only rule was that the piece be exactly 95 words. As a result of her sustained success with this contest, the editor called Laura the “Tom Brady of 95 words…the least glamorous literary form this side of the limerick!”