They came from very different backgrounds and locales, but best-selling authors Ally Condie and Stacie Denetsosie agree that the places they were raised helped formulate the stories they tell and the characters they create.

During a meet-and-greet and book signing at the Viridian Event Center in West Jordan, the Utah-based writers discussed the places they grew up and how that has influenced their narratives.

“I grew up in the Four Corners area,” Denetsosie said, a Native American writer and poet from Kayenta, Arizona. Her debut book “The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories” was named a 2024 Southwest Book of the Year, was a 2024 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize finalist and a Gold Forward INDIES award winner. “I will always have a relationship with that area—the river, environment and setting, the scene description. When I contemplated where I should take the stories, the answers came from the land.”

Condie was raised in Cedar City and around Southern Utah University. She was a second-generation resident of Iron County, and some of her books have been set in Utah.

“Places are very important to me and my stories,” she said, including her latest novel “The Unwedding.” It was selected in June for Reese’s Book Club by actress Reese Witherspoon and was named a USA Today Bestseller. Her “Matched” series was a New York Times #1 bestseller and she was an Edgar Award Finalist for her novel “Summerlost.” 

“The Unwedding” took Condie to another place, literally, as it’s a murder mystery set at a resort in Big Sur, California, a place Condie visited herself during a challenging time in her personal life. It’s been described as “The White Lotus” meets Agatha Christie, “a knife’s-edge whodunit that’s as much a thriller as it is an exquisite meditation on grief
and loss.” 

“I think all settings are important, because they give you limits, borders that you have to stay within,” Condie said. “Writing about Big Sur certainly did that for me.”

Like all writers, the authors discussed stories that they began but somehow “fizzled out.”

“Sometimes that comes from where you’re at personally,” Denetsosie said. “It could come from a feeling of isolation, like during COVID, or even from joy.” Condie has had the same literary agent for 15 years, someone who “puts me through my paces. I’ve sent her ideas for books and she’s very honest with me. She’s said to me ‘if you can make this more special, I’ll read it again.’ That’s my clue that I need to rework the story.”

Denetsosie said she wanted to be a comic book artist, even as young as a sixth grader. 

“I knew I wanted to do a book, but it took me a while to realize I should be a writer, and not an illustrator,” she said. She said there aren’t many Native American horror writers, or books. “It’s been a fun genre to explore and become part of,” she added.

Condie started her author journey at age 4.

“I created stories and dictated them to my babysitter,” she said with a laugh. “I guess she was kind of my first editor. Writing gives us a chance to express how we process the world. I’ve always loved it.”

Both authors are well educated and accomplished. 

Denetsosie received her Master of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts and her Master of Arts from Utah State University. Her work has appeared in Yellow Medicine Review, Phoebe Magazine and Cut Bank, among other publications. She is a recipient of the UCROSS Native American Fellowship and the Prague Summer Program Poetry Fellowship.

Condie has written several picture books including “Here.” A former English teacher, she has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the founder and director of the nonprofit WriteOut Foundation.

Their audience included schoolteachers, parents and several young students who aspire to be writers. The event was part of a series of author visits organized by the Salt Lake County Library system. λ