Wyoming Humanities has selected My Ranch, Too: A Wyoming Memoir by Mary Flitner for the 2022 Library of Congress National Book Festival.
Flitner hails from Shell, Wyo.
The book is one of two Wyoming books chosen for the “Great Reads from Great Places” selection at the annual festival, which highlighted books representing all 50 states. This literary event brought together best-selling authors and thousands of book fans for author talks, panel discussions, book signings and other activities. This year’s event took place last month in Washington, D.C.
The selection of Flitner’s book was handled through the Wyoming Center for the Book, now housed with Wyoming Humanities. A panel was selected to read and consider several books from across the state for this year’s event.
The organization had previously selected the young adult book, The Marvelous Invention of Orion McBride, written by Sheridan educator and author Tyler Rogers, for this year’s festival.
"When nationally we agreed to select an adult book to feature at the festival, I instantly went to My Ranch, Too,” said Lucas Fralick, Wyoming Humanities coordinator for the Center.
According to Fralick, the memoir deals with all the themes the committee sought when selecting Wyoming’s literary representation at the festival: persistence, managing change, identity, and connection to the land.
“We hope that it will enlighten those who have misconceptions or Hollywood visions of a Wyoming ranch, while giving those familiar something new and exciting too,” he added.
My Ranch, Too is described in this way: “For many outsiders, the word “ranching” conjures romantic images of riding on horseback through rolling grasslands while living and working against a backdrop of breathtaking mountain vistas. In this absorbing memoir of life in the Wyoming high country, Mary Budd Flitner offers a more authentic glimpse into the daily realities of ranch life—and what it takes to survive in the ranching world.”
Flitner has been a prominent rancher in Wyoming for more than 50 years. She is the author of articles in High Country News as well as various Wyoming and Montana Newspapers.
For more information about Wyoming Humanities and its programs, visit thinkwy.org. Information about the Center can be directed to Lucas Fralick at lucas@thinkwy.org or 307.660.0729.
