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| 2011 Presenter and Performer Bios We are updating our 15th annual schedule regularly. Please check back. |
 | Gretel Ehrlich, Author, The Solace of Open Spaces Gretel was born on a horse ranch near Santa Barbara, California and was educated at Bennington College and UCLA film school. She worked in film for ten years and began writing full time in 1978 after the death of a loved one. She was filming on a 250,000 acre sheep and cattle ranch in Wyoming at the time, and there she stayed. The book that resulted was The Solace of Open Spaces. It became an instant classic. Working on ranches by day, Ehrlich continued writing at night. Her next novel was Heart Mountain, followed by Islands, The Universe, and Home. In 1991 Ehrlich was hit by lightning and took several years to heal. She writes of that experience in her nationally bestselling memoir, A Match To The Heart, published in 1994. She has traveled extensively and written many other books. Ehrlich has been published in Harper's, the Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Life, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Audubon and Architectural Digest, among many others. Gretal will share her stories in "Women Writing and Living the West." |
 | Linda M. Hasselstrom, Author Linda M. Hasselstrom is an award-winning poet and writer of the High Plains whose work is rooted in the arid landscape of southwestern South Dakota. Although she winters in Wyoming, Linda returns each year to South Dakota, where she writes, ranches, conducts writing retreats, and hosts a botanic garden on the ranch homesteaded by her grandfather, a Swedish cobbler, in 1899. Linda’s non-fiction includes Between Grass and Sky, Feels Like Far, Land Circle, Going Over East, Windbreak, and Bison: Monarch of the Plains. Her poetry books include Bitter Creek Junction and Dakota Bones. Linda was also a co-editor, with Nancy Curtis and Gaydell Collier, of the western women's anthologies Leaning into the Wind, Woven on the Wind, and Crazy Woman Creek. Linda has been selected as the 2010 winner of the WILLA literary award for her latest book, No Place Like Home. Linda is an essayist and poet who lives in the center of the nation, deep in the grasslands and is established as one of the strongest voices on behalf of the prairie. Today she invites you to benefit from a writing retreat on that same ranch called Windbreak. Linda holds a BA in English and Journalism, an MA in American Literature and has been a teacher of writing for more than 40 years. She has hosted writing retreats at her ranch since 1996. Linda will share her work in "Women Writing and Living the West." |
 | Linda Hussa, Author Linda's most recent book is The Family Ranch: Land, Children, and Tradition in the American West. She is the author of numerous published works including poems, nonfiction and anthologies. Linda lives on the Hussa Ranch in Cedarville, California, where she raises Navajo-Churro sheep and quarter horses. Hussa interprets the landscape, the isolated nature of ranching and the relationships of Great Basis rural communities in poem and essay. She has authored the poetry collections Ride the Silence, Where the Wind Lives and Blood Sister I am to These Fields as well as numerous other highly acclaimed stories. Linda's poetic voice speaks about the region she lives in and the people whose lives are shaped by this environment. It reflects a strong sense of place, and is presented with a lyrical voice as wide ranging as the vast country which surrounds her. Linda has received many national awards and will share her stories at "Women Writing and Living the West." |
 | Teresa Jordan, Author Teresa has published several books and among these works are: Riding the White Horse Home, A Western Album, Cowgirls, Women of the American West and The Stories that Shape Us, Contemporary Women Write about the West. Teresa was raised a part of the fourth generation on a cattle ranch in the Iron Mountain country of southeast Wyoming. She is the recipient of the Western Heritage Award from the Cowboy Hall of Fame for scriptwriting and a literary fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts as well as many other literary awards. She teaches writing at colleges, universities and workshops throughout the west. Teresa will share her work and serve as moderator for "Women Writing and Living the West." |
 | Diane Josephy Peavey, Author Diane is the author of Bitterbrush Country, Living on the Edge of the Land, and was a radio essayist for Idaho Public Radio for 18 years. She is published in numerous western anthologies and has recently completed her second commissioned libretto for the renowned Caritas Chorale. For the past thirty years she has lived with her husband, John Peavey, at the Flat Top Sheep Company ranch in south central Idaho. She is former literature director fo the Idaho Commission on the Arts and serves on the Speaker's Bureau for the Idaho Humanities Council. |
 | Annick Smith, Author, Filmmaker The daughter of Hungarian émigrés, Smith was born in Paris and raised in Chicago. In 1964, she moved to Montana where she and her husband and sons settled on a 163-acre ranch in the Blackfood River Valley. Her husband died of heart failure in 1974, but Smith remained on the land to raise her sons. Among her books are Homestead, Big Bluestem and In This We are Native. Smith served as executive producer of the film Heartland and co-producer of A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford. She is also a founding board member of Redford's Sundance Institute. Smith lives in Montana with her partner, the writer William Kittredge. |
 | Baxter Black, Cowboy Poet and Entertainer He's described by the New York Times as "probably the nation's most successful living poet", and thanks to a gracious sponsorship donation from Simplot Land and Livestock Group and Western Stockmen's, this year's festival will host the talented and comedic, Baxter Black! This former large animal veterinarian can be followed nationwide through his column, National Public Radio, public appearances, television and also through his books, cd's, videos and commercial radio. Baxter lives in Benson, Arizona, between the Gila River and the Gila monster, the Mexican border and the Border Patrol and between the horse and the cow---where the action is. He still doesn't own a television or a cell phone, and his idea of a modern convenience is Velcro chaps. Everything about Baxter is cowboy; his cartoonish mustache, his personality and his poetry. He makes a living shining a spotlight on the flaws and foibles of everyday cowboy life. He demonstrates that it is the truth in his humor that makes it funny. So, in a nut shell (where some believe he may have evolved) there is considerably more to Baxter than just an entertainer. He is the real thing. Because, as he says, "It's hard to be what you aren't."  |
 | Hal Cannon Hal Cannon is the founding Director of the Western Folklife Center and its famous child, the Cowboy Poetry Gathering In Elko, Nevada. He has published a dozen books, received multiple awards and is a highly sought-after writer, performer and musician. Hal will be performing before the Baxter Black concern on Saturday, October 8th at the NexStage Theatre in Ketchum. |
 | Scott Mason - Cooking with Lamb Chef and owner of Ketchum Grill, Scott Mason is well known for providing some of the finest food in the Sun Valley area. Over his 35-year career Scott has done it all; cooking alongside master chefs, apprenticing in the kitchens of France, leading daily menu creation, and so much more. In addition to his being creative force behind the Ketchum Grill, he is the author of numerous articles, an expert in local wild mushrooms and an accomplished wine steward. Friday's Trailing of the Sheep Lamb Cooking Class is always a popular feature of the weekend and encourages home chefs and families to appreciate the freshness, versatility, and secrets of delectable American lamb. |
 | John Balderson & Ed Wilde - Sheep shearers John has been shearing sheep professionally for close to 50 years, traveling from one sheep operation to another around the region. He has fascinated audiences at the Trailing of the Sheep Festival since its inception and at presentations in schools and 4-H groups, explaining the uses of the various clippers, the ways to gentle a sheep for shearing, and how to clip it rapidly and cleanly. As in recent years, John is joined by Ed Wilde of Carey, who has owned and operated his own shearing operation most of his life, moving seasonally throughout the region to expertly shear the animals at many of Idaho’s sheep ranches. |
 | Dancers and Musicians See Folklife Fair for descriptions of the wonderfully talented dancers and musicians performing at the fair and participating in the parade. |
 | Ivan Swaner - Local historian and storyteller Ivan Swaner, easy to find with his fancy mustache ends twisted into fine curls and his worn cowboy hat, is the Wood River Valley's own historian. A lifelong resident, he knows of events that others have long forgotten and of sites and traditional activities now changed by development. He shares these stories throughout the weekend, on Sunday morning, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Lane Merc (for years the sheepmen's gathering place) in Starbucks on Main Street, Ketchum, and later at the Neal Canyon tour of sheepherder carvings. |
 | John Peavey - Local rancher and storyteller John is a third generation sheep rancher, owner of Flat Top Sheep Company, former state senator, and co-founder of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival. He will provide history and ranching insights on the Sheep Shuttle trip to Neal Canyon and during the Sheepherder Carvings Walk. John and his son Tom run their sheep ranch, started in the 1920's by John’s grandfather and located along the Little Wood River about 40 miles from Ketchum. |
 | Tamara Kubacki - Western Folklife Center, folklorist Tamara Kubacki has been the Programs Coordinator for the Western Folklife Center since 2007, with her main duties focused on the winter National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Tamara comes to Elko from Chicago where she most recently served as the Director of Ethnic and Folk Arts, Literature and Presenters Programs at the Illinois Arts Council. She holds an M.A. in Folk Studies from Western Kentucky University. |
 | Meg Glaser - Western Folklife Center, folklorist Meg Glaser is the Artistic Director for the Western Folklife Center. She is an ethno-musicologist and has served as a director of Folklife Center programs since 1990, conducting and overseeing research and fieldwork, producing exhibits, performance tours, and other events. Prior to moving to Elko, Meg worked for the National Council for the Traditional Arts, organizing national tours, festivals, and events. |
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