“It begins with a moment of contact — of driving up to a homestead and trying to introduce yourself,” author Ted Conover writes. “The prospect is daunting: a lot of people live out here because they do not want to run into other people.”

This is an excerpt from his latest book, “Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge,” where Conover explores the lives of solitary homesteaders living on the rural fringes.

Grand County community members and writers can meet with Denver native and New York City-based author this week.

On June 2, Conover will join Martin J. Smith of the Grand County Community of Writers for a conversation on his most recent book, “Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge.” The event, which includes a Q&A and book signing, will be held at the Granby Library beginning at 6 p.m.

Conover is Pulitzer Prize finalist and National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author and journalist. He teaches writing at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, but has a strong connection to Colorado.

Conover was raised in Denver, and traveled to Aspen for his first-person ethnography, “Whiteout.” Most recently, Conover moved to a failed subdivision in the San Luis Valley, to chronicle the lives of solitary homesteaders. Through this first-hand experience of living on the margins of society, Conover penned “Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge.”

The Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association chose Conover’s book as a finalist for the Reading the West Book Awards in the memoir and biography category.

According to the Grand County Library District, “Cheap Land Colorado” is one of the district’s most popular non-fiction books – likely because of the book’s parallels to Grand County life. “Cheap Land Colorado” explores the push-and-pull between land preservation and increased population and development.

Visit TedConover.com to learn more about the author or purchase his works. To learn more the Grand County Community of Writers, visit Gcld.org/Writers.