Nature writer Ellen Meloy, whose books, articles and radio commentaries on her beloved desert Southwest illuminate the ties between people and nature, is best known for her 2002 book, The Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape, Art and Spirit, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She was a presenter at MCWC in 2004, a few months before her untimely death.

We currently pay for the Social Change Fellowship from operating budget funds.

This fellowship is offered to College of the Redwoods students to inspire them to develop and foster their writing. It honors the late Carmen Gabriela Etcheberry-Freund's enthusiasm and support of the writers conference and writing in general.

Carmen originally studied journalism, and after retirement, writing was her greatest activity.