2018 FoCo Book Fest: The Big Think

The 2018 book festival joined a broader national conversation around science and technology that came at a time when we were experiencing an unprecedented expansion of scientific advancement and questioning what this means for how we live, work, and grow as humans.

The event featured local and national visionaries and big thinkers who were not afraid of examining the broad-based social implications and human challenges of this technological progress. Presentations covered a variety of topics from exploring and living on other planets to gravitational waves to human ingenuity and invention.

Festival Highlights

Headliners and featured authors included internationally-known sci-fi author Andy Weir (The Martian and Artemis); Dr. Sheila Rowan, experimental physicist and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government; former Colorado governor Bill Ritter, Jr. (Powering Forward – What Everyone Should Know About America’s Energy Revolution); astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker (What is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics); acclaimed poet Kimiko Hahn (Brain Fever and Toxic Flora); senior scientist with the Planetary Science Institute, based in Boulder, Dr. Amanda Hendrix (Beyond Earth: Our Path to a New Home in the Planets); and multimedia artist Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky (The Imaginary App).

Writers head off on a river walk / writing workshop to experiment with nature writing.

The 2018 festival included new activities like a river walk discussion focused on “walking and writing place,” Museum of Discovery OtterBox Digital Dome performances, sunspotting at New Belgium Brewing, and an opportunity for local authors to read their work during FoCo Writers Read.

Todd Mitchell leads a writing workshop “Making the Strange Believable: Secrets for Writing Sci-Fi & Fantasy” at Old Town Library

Download a copy of the 2018 festival program to see all of The Big Think presenters, sponsors, and venues.

The FoCo Book Fest team would like to thank all of the incredible sponsors, presenters, authors, and volunteers who helped make this event such a success.