Shelley Read's internationally bestselling debut novel, Go As A River, is being translated into over thirty languages and has been optioned for film by Mazur Kaplan in partnership with Fifth Season. A Sunday Times and American Booksellers Association bestseller, Go As A River is also a 2023 Amazon Editor's Pick Best Debut, a Goodreads Choice Award Finalist, and a Colorado Public Radio Best Book of the Year, among other accolades.

Shelley was an award-winning Senior Lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades where she taught writing, literature, environmental studies, and honors. She holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University's Graduate Program in Creative Writing and was a Dean’s Fellow in the University of Denver’s PhD program in English. She is a regular contributor to Crested Butte Magazine and Gunnison Valley Journal.

Shelley is a mom, mountaineer, world traveler, and fifth generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope.