LITERARY FUTURES by The Word
Literary Futures invites writers of all levels are invited to join this cohort of local Denver-metro writers to find community connection and connection to their individual voices.
We invite interested writers across genres and experience levels to join this program to build:
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Confidence - participants identify with the writing path that suits each of them best
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Knowledge - participants gain insight into writing and publishing processes
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Community - participants connect with other local writers, establishing a lasting network of support
UPCOMING SESSIONS
MAY 31, 2026 at DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY - CENTRAL
Sunday, May 31, 2026: Denver Public Library - Central
11:30 am - 4:30 pm
Part One - Connecting to your voice
11:30 - 12:00 Group introductions - Why are you here?
Traci Jones (Ransoming the Captive, Standing Against the Wind)
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12:00 - 12:40 Finding and connecting with one’s writing journey
Nancy Viera (Flower Moon Runner, The Grief and the Happiness)
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12:40 - 1:00 Writing prompt from Nancy Viera (concurrent break time for participants)
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Part Two - Publishing goals
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1:00 - 1:10 Generating questions or a pitch to present to agent
Traci Jones
1:10 - 1:50 Introduction to publishing talk & Q&A
Maria Heater, Nelson Literary Agency
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1:50 - 2:00 Break
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2:00 - 3:00 5-minute agent meet-ups (1-1 with individual participants)
Maria Heater, Nelson Literary Agency
Leah Pierre, Ladderbird Literary Agency
Concurrent 1-hour writing session & Lunch break
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Part Three - Publishing & community
3:00 - 4:00 Writing and publishing journey and a letter to an editor
Pardeep Toor (Hands/Stories)
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4:00 - 4:30 Writing resources, connecting to community, closing questions
Traci Jones
OUR FACILITATOR
Traci Jones
Traci L. Jones holds a B.A. from Pomona College. and an M.A. from the University of Denver.
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Her first YA novel, Standing Against the Wind, was published at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (FSG), in 2006 and won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. Her second novel, Finding My Place, was published in 2010 and the third, Silhouetted by the Blue, in 2011. She is represented by the Metamorphosis Literary Agency. Ransoming the Captive, her fourth was published July 2022 with Black Rose Writing.
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In 2016, she joined the MFA program at Regis University, the Lighthouse Writing Workshop in 2020, and began teaching at the Honors College at the University of Colorado at Denver in 2022.
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She and her husband have four children and live in Denver.
INSTRUCTORS
Dino Enrique Piacentini
Dino Enrique Piacentini’s stories and essays have appeared in One Story, Pembroke, Gulf Coast, Confrontation, The Masters’ Review, The Atticus Review, The Globe & Mail, and The Massachusetts Review, among other places. His debut novel, Invasion of the Daffodils, about a Mexican-American family living on an island off the coast of California during the Korean War, was just published by Astrophil Press in October 2024.
Currently, he lives in Denver, where he teaches creative writing at the University of Denver’s University College and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Before becoming a writer, he worked at various visual arts organizations throughout San Francisco, including Galería de la Raza, Yerba Buena Center, and The Mexican Museum.
Maria Heater
Maria joined NLA in 2018 after gaining experience at several other literary agencies. She is now Kristin Nelson’s administrative mastermind, handling all things queries, submissions, and foreign rights. She is an essential first reader, reporting to the agent team on requested manuscripts and providing developmental comments on client material.
As a citizen of the world, Maria is multilingual and lived in Latin America and Asia for several years. She has been a bookseller, a SFWA mentee, a PitchWars mentor, and occasional writer of speculative fiction. She is passionate about advocating for marginalized voices. When not reading submissions, Maria enjoys new motherhood, wrangling her two cats, and daydreaming about her next adventure abroad.
Nancy Viera
Nancy Viera is a Mexican American
author from Denver, Colorado. She is
the author of the memoir The Grief
and The Happiness, four poetry
collections, and the forthcoming
novel Flower Moon Runner. Her work
has been showcased at the Denver
Art Museum, and she has taught
writing workshops in schools and
colleges including Colorado College
and Regis University.
Pardeep Toor
Pardeep Toor's writing has appeared in the Best Debut Short Stories 2021: The PEN America Dau Prize, Southern Humanities Review, Catapult, Electric Literature, and Longreads. His short story collection, HANDS, was published in April 2026 by Cornerstone Press.
Leah Pierre
A Texas native, Leah briefly moved to the East Coast to attend Rosemont College and to pursue her dream of working in publishing. She graduated from Rosemont College with a B.A. in English and History and soon after became an agent at Ladderbird Literary Agency. Leah then went on to pursue and receive her M.A. in Publishing from her alma mater as well. Having accomplished her dream of working in publishing, she has since moved back to the South to begin her next adventure and continue searching for the next commercial YA or Adult project that will hook her (or make her cry). She is a tenacious advocate for BIPOC writers and is always looking for ways to bring more diverse intersectionality to publishing.
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