Vice President Nominees
Kevin Wolf
Kevin Wolf is the current RMFW VP. He attended his first Gold Conference in 2002, became a regular at Saturday workshops, entered contests, and critiqued with the Southwest Plaza Group. Wanting to give back, Kevin judged for the Gold Contest, guided conference newbies, and, in the COVID year, was part of the team that put together the month-long YouTube slate of virtual workshops. Currently, he facilitates a Monday night writers’ group with authors zooming in from Atlanta, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, and other Colorado cities.
His 2016 novel THE HOMEPLACE was the winner of the Tony Hillerman Award. Western Writers of America chose BELTHANGER as the 2021 Spur Award winner for short fiction. THE BOOTHEEL (Sept 2023, Thorndike) was a finalist for The Peacemaker Award for Best Traditional Western. In 2024 he dipped his toes into independently publishing with TRAILRIDGE.
More than anything else, Kevin wants RMFW to be a welcoming place for all writers and help the organization keep pace with all the opportunities in the dynamics of storytelling.
Amber Herbert
Amber Herbert has been a member of RMFW since 2021 and has been attending the Colorado Gold Conference since 2018. She has been a category captain for the Colorado Gold Rush contest since 2018 and is currently working on a new RMFW writing contest for published authors set to launch in 2025. Amber has served on the RMFW board of directors as the Front Range Programs chair, technology chair, and 2024 Colorado Gold Conference admin. If she wins the vice president nomination, she will focus on membership outreach, expanding RMFW’s annual event options, and creating more opportunities for RMFW members and Colorado’s growing creative community.
Amber is a (mostly) speculative fiction author living in Colorado Springs with her husband and their two gremlins. She writes everything from sweeping, heady fantasies to atmospheric horror. She holds a BA in English literature and worked as a freelance developmental and copy editor for seven years. Amber published her first novel in 2022, Lipstick Covered Magnet, and has had numerous poems and short stories published in small press anthologies. She won the Gold Nugget award in 2023 and 2024 at the Colorado Gold Conference and has been nominated for three Indie Ink awards. When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys baking, going to emo/punk/heavy metal gigs, playing board games, and watching and critiquing TV and film.
Mira Landry
Mira Landry is an associate literary agent with Corvisiero literary agency, currently acquiring literary and upmarket-leaning Adult and YA fiction. Born and raised in British Columbia, she has lived on four continents, traveled to over eighty countries, and now resides in Colorado with her husband where she still seeks adventure in both real life and on the page. After a decade building her own business as a photographer, she’s eager to help authors turn their art into a career. Mira is dedicated to building writing and literary communities through events and educational programming, and was RMFW’s co-chair for the 2021 & 2022 Colorado Gold Conference, and is the current contest co-chair. She also served on the executive board as Secretary while chairing the conference. She has a Bachelors from the University of British Columbia and a Certificate of Creative Writing from Simon Fraser University. She co-hosts an educational podcast called Writers Who Read, analyzing recently published books using Literary Forensics. Mira is running for Vice President in order to foster growth in the RMFW community, strengthen connections among existing members and the larger Rocky Mountain literary community, and to support the various board members in their endeavours.
Secretary Nominees
Karla M. Jay
I have attended RMFW’s conference for over fifteen years and won a PAL award. I have published seven novels, am self-published, and have won many national and international awards for historical fiction. I taught an online class for PPW years ago on marketing as a self-published author.
I live in Salt Lake City and am happily the stepmom of two great girls and have four step-granddogs. I’ve been a speech therapist for forty-two years and still work part-time. I love traveling, gardening, reading, and writing.
Rachel Dempsey
Active member of RMFW since 2018, served as conference volunteer, Open Mic host, workshop presenter and contest coordinator. She has also blogged for RMFW for the past four years.
Published author of short fiction (Pushcart nominated 2024)
Awards include first prize in Denver Women’s Press Club’s Emerging Writer contest, Writer’s Digest fiction prize, Colorado Gold Literary Awards (finalist in 2019, first prize with a different manuscript in 2020)
BFA from NYU in Drama and English, Master’s in Journalism from Georgetown, MFA in Creative Writing from Regis
Married, 3 children
I would be a good candidate for secretary because I am a meticulous, collaborative problem-solver. I am open to new ideas and believe everyone should have a voice at the table.