SARANAC LAKE -- A Colton fiction writer was recently awarded an Anne LaBastille Writers Residency with the Adirondack Center for Writing.

Betsy Kepes was named as one of two fiction writers receiving the residency, said a press release from the center.

The Anne LaBastille Writers Residency provides space, time and an inspiring landscape for regional and non-local writers to work on their writing projects, a chance to unplug and connect with other writers, and to tap into their creative self.

The residency is provided by the estate of Anne LaBastille.

Kepes lives in Colton and currently works as a piano teacher and a freelance writer.

For many years she has contributed commentaries, book reviews and special projects to North Country Public Radio. She also writes “The Book Explorer,” a column in The Adirondack Explorer magazine.

In the summers she travels to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho to work as a wilderness trail contractor and a fire lookout.

This year the center received 108 applications from talented writers all over the globe, said the press release.

Other writers awarded included Madeline Hennessey and Noah Stetzer (Poetry), Liz Wyckoff (Fiction), and Glenn Sandiford and Caitlin Chandler (Non-fiction).

Resident writers will have a public reading during their two-week residency on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. at Twitchell Lodge.

Contact the Adirondack Center for Writing for directions to Twitchell Lodge at info@adirondackcenterforwriting.org.