81 MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | SPORTS & RECREATION | SHOPPING & SERVICES | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | MUSIC & VENUES | FOOD & DRINK | Best Memoir Celebrating the Human Spirit Climbing Through by Melissa Strong melissaistrong.com Though the cover of Melissa Strong’s de- but memoir pictures her gripping tightly to sandstone, Climbing Through: A Cou- rageous Story of Grit, Healing and Second Chances is not a story about bouldering. While she was a sponsored athlete, her global climbing excursions were also funded by hospitality work. However, in the midst of opening her acclaimed Estes Park restaurant Bird & Jim, she suffered a near-fatal electrocution accident, causing her to lose parts of several fi ngers. Strong’s book chronicles her grueling physical and emotional recovery, which ultimately al- lowed her to climb again. But what will truly inspire readers is her abundant grati- tude through it all, both for her community and a new lease on life. Best New Self-Published Book Heart of the Matter by Lynn Blake instagram.com/lynngblake In 2007, Lynn Blake was riding high. She was 27, it was Valentine’s Day, she’d just returned from a whirlwind honeymoon, and she was starting a new job in Vail. And then came the sudden and completely un- expected cardiac arrest that utterly redi- rected her life. Blake’s book Heart of the Matter details her near-death experience, and is both a memoir and an inspirational how-to on living one’s life purposefully and accepting the role anxiety plays while working through it successfully. Just like the Colorado mountains in which Blake’s story takes place, all of our lives have hand climbs, distant precipices, and shadowed valleys. This book is all about how to thrive throughout the trip. Best New Colorado Poetry Book Begin Where You Are coloradopoets.org Colorado didn’t have an anthology of poetry from all of the state’s poets laureate until recently. Begin Where You Are was started by social entrepreneur Turner Wyatt, who collaborated on the book with modern po- ets laureate Mary Crow, David Mason, Joe Hutchison, Bobby LeFebre, Andrea Gibson, and Gibson’s friend, Julia Seldin. The book launched in December, featuring poetry from all ten of Colorado’s poets laureate, including some previously unpublished poetry. Proceeds from the book will sup- port Crisosto Apache, who was announced as the state’s eleventh poet laureate earlier this year, in their travels to more rural and underserved areas around the state. Best New Poetry Collection About Masculinity The Cruelty Virtues by Seth Brady Tucker sethbradytucker.ink In a world in which toxic masculinity shouts its way off our various screens — and comes from our national leadership, no less — it does the heart some good to read a Denver poet address that point of view with a critical eye, and no small amount of grace. Seth Brady Tucker, who teaches at the Colorado School of Mines and Lighthouse Writers Workshop, doesn’t vilify American men in his new collection The Cruelty Virtues, but he does examine it from the outside in and the inside out. “I’m impatient for empathy not to be seen as a sin,” he told us in a 2026 interview in honor of the new collection’s launch. If you relate to that statement, this book will be a balm. Best Local Comic Book That Rufus Karl is One Bad Hombre, by el Justo (Justin Renteria) justinrenteria.com Justin Renteria, who sometimes goes by the art name el Justo, is both a comic creator and an illustrator of some notability, work- ing with The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, WIRED, Mother Jones, and many more. (He’s also done some art- work in the past for us here at Westword.) Additionally, in the last few years, he’s been hard at work in the graphic novel medium with That Rufus Karl is One Bad Hombre, the story of a retired assassin pulled out of a peaceful retirement from the fast food industry by the pressures of his past. With equal parts hilarity and brutality, this story shines, as does the art that depicts it. Find it at Mutiny Comics, Time Warp in Boulder, or ask your local shop to carry it. You’ll be a fan of this bad hombre. Best Place to Find Reading Material, Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen Denver Zine Library 1900 35th Street denverzinelibrary.org No zine is too weird for the Zine Library, a volunteer-run room in the Denver Public Library’s Bob Ragland branch that houses shelves of around 20,000 zines — all do- nated and all available for checkout on Saturdays when the DZL is open. One of the strangest zines DZL volunteer Vera Benschop recalls receiving is Rock Book, an envelope full of rocks. But the truth is, a zine can be anything. “Nobody can tell you what to write, nobody can tell you what you can publish, they can’t tell you your opinion’s wrong,” Benschop says. Best Journalism About Colorado Journalism Inside the News in Colorado coloradomedia.substack.com Throughout a year filled with national alarm regarding the state of the free press under the Trump Administration, no one has covered the growing news deserts, mass layoffs and rare victories of Colorado journalism in 2025 more thoroughly than educator and journalist Corey Hutchins. Providing weekly reportage on his Sub- stack page Inside the News in Colorado, Hutchins has discussed the cancellation of Life On Capitol Hill, the conservative broadcast giant Sinclair’s recent attempt to acquire KMGH Denver7, and much more. Those concerned about the fate of Colo- rado outlets and the state’s shifting media landscape owe it to themselves to subscribe to this free newsletter. ■
