White Mountains Festival of Books 2026: Inside the Arizona Writers Event Reshaping Indie Author Community

How a Retired Air Force Analyst Turned Show Low, Arizona Into a Rising Hub for Self-Published Authors, and Why the 2026 Theme “A Wave of Change” Has Everything to Do With AI, Reader Connection, and What’s Next for Indie Publishing

The White Mountains Festival of Books in Show Low, Arizona has grown from 37 authors at its 2024 launch to a two-day event drawing dozens of speakers, vendors, and writers from across the region. In this interview, co-founder and organizer Kathleen Osborne walks through the vision behind the Festival (free to the public, August 1) and the Writers Conference (July 31), explains why keynote speaker James Owen—award-winning author and artist—is a natural fit for a year themed around industry disruption, and makes the case for why self-published authors who feel isolated, undertrained, or uncertain about AI’s role in their craft should make the drive to Show Low. 

Topics covered:

• AI as a writing tool,
• Shifts in fiction technique,
• Building sustainable indie author community
• 2026 writing contest with manuscript assessment prizes
• What it actually takes to get out of your own way as a writer
  
  

SPM: What gap in the community were you trying to fill when you first proposed this idea, and what does it mean to you to see it taking root?

The number of incredible fine artists that are located here, the large amount of authors, then add in the poets can blow you away. I found that several worked in multiple ways, like poets and painters, or artists of several styles and successful authors. 

Shortly after we moved here, my life turned around because of some injuries, and I had to ‘retire’ again. Within a few months I got very bored. And I remembered when I was in Junior High, how I wanted to write a grand opus. I had been playing around with  auditing classes for creative writing online. When the two things – retired, again, and memories – had me telling my husband I was going to write a book… 

Taking that step opened my eyes and heart to all the authors up here. Award winning writers that needed to stay in the local area for personal reasons. And they craved being with like-minded creatives.

Through writing my own novel(s) I got to know editors, nonfiction, fiction writers of a multitude of genres. The independence I admired of the people that live up here won my heart. I saw such a need for something deeper than a writers’ group… community was the answer. I believe we were drawn here because of them. Because there are times when the creative mind needs to be totally immersed in fellowship with others of the same ilk.

Some people would say I’m an enabler or I want to take care of those around me. All I know is I saw a need that didn’t whisper, it shouted something should be done for these people. Words alone won’t accomplish it. It takes action to do it.

There are four others who saw the same vision and joined me. Together we are developing a writers’ community and elevating it to become a mecca for writers.

What does it mean to see it take root. Humm. Kind of like a parent watching their child take their first steps, right now. But seeing the vision of what was birthed come to its destiny. Ah, that has yet to be seen. We are partially there, but we have a long way to go.

I couldn’t have done something this big on my own. Every child should have two parents to raise them and watch them become who they were called to be… Show Low has five… Paula Winskye, Jonathan Pembroke, David Gilmore, Scott Harrington, and myself. This dream becoming a reality has also many aunts and uncles, too.

It makes me so incredibly proud to see what we are creating. I want to add that we grew from 37 vendors in 2024 to 61 in 2025 for our Festival, and from 40 to 65 attendees at our conference. Our writing contest is in its 2^nd year, and I expect it to triple if not grow more than that. Next is creating a retreat…

SPM: The 2026 theme is “A Wave of Change” and the publishing world is shifting fast for everyone, but especially for self-published authors. What does that theme mean to you personally, and how did it shape the programming and your choice of keynote speaker James Owen?

Kathleen Osborne: A Wave of Change,” came from a vision I had of a huge tsunami hitting us. I was swimming with a board to get into position to ride the wave when I saw others riding it, some falling away. There were people who ignored what was right before them and I knew they were going to self-destruct because of it, if not that… they would be left behind.

I knew in what I call my ‘knower,’ that it was change coming. Changes so big it is like a voice crying in the wilderness, embrace it, don’t fight it. There are changes in so many places and in so many ways right now. I think of the changes that happened because of electricity… everything from communication to cooking to cleaning to computers were a result of its harnessing. Were they created by it? No, but eyes and minds opened because of it. That light bulb didn’t just light a room; it lit the imagination. Much like Science Fiction does.

One of the changes is Artificial Intelligence and how it can be utilized. Notice I said utilized. How can it help you be better in what you are doing? Not do it. Yes, I give it direction, and I edit what I ask it to write for things that I need help with. I let it guide me at times. I tend to write too much, so I let it point those things out, so I am not struggling trying to figure out why what I wrote was so awful I wouldn’t want a child to read it.

Do I depend on it? No. It saves me time. It actually teaches me, too. And I have told it to not hold back if something I have written should never be seen by anyone but me. I even tell it, you can’t do any writing, it has to be all me. And the moment I start to ask it to do something counter to that, it tells me, “You said I am not to write this, you are.”

Another change is coming in how we, as writers, approach our readers. I’ve seen in some of the blogs and newsletters recently (last three months), the advice is to be real with your readers and let them get to know YOU.

We are seeing some of the aftereffects of the isolation of covid. What it did to the children, because they are adults now… They need and hunger for a deeper connection. Mankind was not meant to be in isolation. We were meant to propagate as in having children, and to build a society.

Some were not taught social skills and writers need to be aware their readers will look for them because they don’t have any… many will take what they learn from novels to be socially acceptable behavior. Others are stepping back. The pendulum swings both ways. They are going back into forms of isolation, and because they are choosing that, they are extremely vulnerable.

Think back a moment. When you read the Superman comics as a preteen. How many of you tied a towel around your neck, climbed the ladder to the top bunk (if you had bunkbeds) and either jumped off yelling, “Up, up and away.” Or climbed back down and got on a chair doing the same thing?

Own up to it. It’s only you talking to yourself.

Another thing that supports this, to me, is the growth in people asking how do I dress for this? What do I do? Which fork do I use when faced with four forks on one side of the plate. And people asking for business etiquette classes. Why? Because some of the nuances of our business world has changed. The last thing you want to do is inadvertently embarrass yourself or those you work with.

Writing techniques are changing… ask an editor. They know because they see it. One change that is continuing to grow is shorter paragraphs, only one POV per scene or chapter, using action tags instead of ‘said’, ‘asked,’ etc. in dialog. 

Interviews are changing… the gentleman who taught me how to podcast and conduct an interview, Bing Bruce, also taught me what to do if things go haywire. He is still teaching that, but he has added how to take control of an interview when the interviewer gets off track. He is teaching at Seminars and Writers Conferences around the United States. Why did he change his syllabus? Because wunderkind podcasters were popping up all over place with no training or inadequate training. Leaving them and their guests unhappy. That was part of the beginning of the change, in fact.

Now, to your question, why James Owen? Since I became part of the literary world up in the White Mountains, his name kept coming up. I had tried to reach him before but was never able to connect with him… because it wasn’t the right time. 

I say that because, when I told him what our theme was, he said he was in the middle of major change. He is an author and artist that is open to change. We are extremely excited to have him… and guess what? He is one of the many award-winning authors I mentioned earlier. He had to adopt change to get where he is. Plus, his heart is in helping ‘hungry’ authors. What a perfect keynote speaker for such a time as this.

SPM: You began your own writing journey in 2019 and have been self-publishing ever since. How has that personal experience as an indie author shaped the way you design these events — what do you wish had existed for you that you’re now trying to provide for others?

Kathleen Osborne: My personal experience has affected everything I do. From things that I have lived reflected in my novels and short stories, to the collection of articles I have gathered along the way, sharing them with emerging authors. 

I had to lean on different research books and thesauruses to help me write because I had shut off some of my emotions. I hadn’t had an English class for 50 years. Hadn’t done any creative writing either.

After high school, I went into the military. The Air Force taught me about Statistical Analysis and that was all I wrote about. There is no getting creative with numbers when you are dealing with anything in the military. Then afterwards I went to work for Northrop on the B-2 Bomber (I actually got to sit in the cockpit!). My reports went to congress… did they want creativity? Nope.

Writing fiction was so easy it was hard. The hardest part was putting my butt in the chair and writing, or some would say, “throwing up on paper.”

I wish I had gotten involved earlier than I did in writing fiction. Not journalling. I tried that and have many half-written books sitting on my shelf. The closest I came to it was writing my dreams down. That and accepting the help that was offered when I first put pen to paper after we moved here.

A door opened and I didn’t walk through it. I have regretted it many times. But then a window opened and this time I climbed the wall and went through it. And am so grateful for those I found on the other side. 

SPM: The Festival of Books on August 1st is free to the public and draws readers of all ages, while the Writers Conference on July 31st is a professional development day for writers. How do these two events work together as a weekend, and who is the ideal person who should be blocking both days on their calendar?

Kathleen Osborne: Anyone who wants to grow should be at both events. The speakers we have chosen… and we had considered several, have something to say to each person that will be there, including each other. 

We understand that distance can limit one to coming to only one. That is one of the reasons we always have honored the speakers with tables at both events. Last year I would say 85-90% of the attendees at the conference were at the Festival, whether as a vendor or attendee. It is also why we offer a discount for those going to the conference and attending the Festival as a vendor.

We believe the two events go hand-in-hand. Educating and activating. Refresh and energize. People get educated and refreshed, confirmation even for new things they are doing when they attend the conference. The Festival, gives them a place to put what they learned into actions, to practice what they learned to cement into their psyche. Thereby, they remember and grow.

SPM: This year you’re also running a writing contest with prizes awarded live at the conference, open to unpublished, self-published, and traditionally published writers alike. What was the thinking behind adding the contest, and what does it signal about the kind of community you’re trying to build?

Kathleen Osborne: Some of the authors have never been in a writing contest. To me, yes, it is important to win, but it is practice, too. They will become better writers and learn part of the steps to submission of a story to those who are not published. To those who are published, whether fiction or nonfiction, it ups the ante. Who doesn’t want to be able to put on the accolades that they won this contest or that one. 

And this year we are creating an award. The winners will receive a physical award and digital one they can put on the cover of their published works. And we have had a sponsor come forward, Entrada Publishing, that is giving a gift to our 1^st place winner, a Beta Reading Service (Complete manuscript assessment by a genre-matched professional reader, including a detailed written report covering plot, character development, pacing, and market positioning insights. Delivered within 2-3 weeks.)   

We want to encourage and build a strong writing community that people want to be a part of and perpetuate into the future.

 

SPM: What do you want a self-published author who makes the drive to Show Low that weekend to walk away believing that they didn’t believe before they arrived?

Kathleen Osborne: I want them to know they can do this. My father told me two truths that have had the greatest impact on my life. 

The first was: God is all knowing. So never ever try to lie to God.

From which I learned, I may be able to lie to myself or someone else, but He knows the truth. You can never run or hide from it. So don’t ever do it.

The second was: The only one standing in your way is you. Get out of your own way.

If I wanted something bad enough, no matter how terrified I was, I had to suck it up and do it. If I didn’t know how… then learn. And if I needed help, ask. Because nothing happens unless you ask.

I also learned, later, about affirmation. Asking how you achieved something you are working toward, yet hadn’t achieved yet. Our minds will do everything they can to create that change within ourselves to reach that goal. See, it is that word again… change.

Here are some examples: look into your eyes in a mirror ask yourself, “Why do people gobble up my books and stories like bonbons on Christmas morning?” or “Why did my writing make a difference in so-and-so’s life?” 

Growth in each person that attends, and belief in themselves, that yes, writing is hard. But it is something they can learn. If they are willing to change.

Are you willing?