5th annual literary event to feature music legend Judy Collins, Colorado Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre, authors Fred Pearce, John Fielder, and others
(FORT COLLINS, Colo., August 31, 2020) — Poudre River Public Library District has announced the dates and headliners for the 2020 Fort Collins Book Fest. This year’s event will be held virtually over six days across two weekends, October 9-11 and 16-18, 2020.
The virtual event presents a digital hybrid of interviews, book talks, readings, panels, and writers’ workshops. Sessions will be centered around craft brewing, music, food, and science and technology, and will take place as live streams and webinar broadcasts. Many sessions will be available for replay.
“We wanted to find a way to bring the book fest to life for our community during this pandemic, and have reimagined the traditional festival as a virtual community-wide gathering,” says Anne Macdonald, Fort Collins Book Fest director and librarian with Poudre River Public Library District. “During these restricted times, literature, language, and dialogue have the power to transport us, help us connect to each other and allow us to dream, helping us all feel more human.”
Headliners for the 2020 event include music legend Judy Collins (“Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music”); Bobby LeFebre, Colorado Poet Laureate and award-winning writer, performer, and cultural worker; journalist Fred Pearce (“When the Rivers Run Dry”); and author/photographer John Fielder (“Colorado’s Highest: The History of Naming the 14,000-Foot Peaks”).
These presenters will be joined by other notable authors including award-winning poet and author Camille T. Dungy (“Guidebook to Relative Strangers”); San Antonio Poet Laureate Octavio Quintanilla (“Wasted Time”); scientist Mohammed Noor (“Live Long and Evolve: What Star Trek Can Teach Us About Evolution, Genetics, and Life On Other Worlds”); Colorado author Jim Davidson (“The Ledge: A Story of Resiliency”); artist-educator Naima Penniman,director of SOUL FIRE FARM; and Fort Collins Poet Laureate Autumn Bernhardt.
A full list of authors and presenters will be announced in September along with the festival schedule. Information about the Book Fest can be found at FoCoBookFest.org.
About the Fort Collins Book Festival
The Fort Collins Book Festival was conceived by librarians, writers, book lovers, and community members with the simple purpose: to combine the community’s passion for the literary arts and our unique cultural, social, and economic heritage in a celebration of literature, literacy, and social conversation. The festival is produced annually by Poudre River Public Library District in partnership with Colorado State University’s Morgan Library. Information about the event can be found online at FoCoBookFest.org.
The 2020 event is offered free to the community through the support and generosity of the City of Fort Collins Fort Fund, Lilla B. Morgan Memorial Endowment Fund, Poudre River Friends of the Library, Front Range Community College, Downtown Development Authority, Poudre River Library Trust, Downtown Fort Collins Creative District, Northern Colorado Writers, and other local businesses and creative arts organizations.
About the Poudre River Public Library District
Poudre River Public Library District was established in 2006 by voter approval. The District’s shared resources serve more than 200,000 people across a vast 1,800 square-mile region in northern Larimer County, Colorado. Anchored by three libraries in Fort Collins, the District is dedicated to matching diverse communities’ needs, interests and priorities with exceptional opportunities for learning, intellectual stimulation, and personal enjoyment. In all its endeavors, the District aims to enrich the cultural, educational and economic life of the growing regional area which it serves. For more information, visit PoudreLibraries.org or call (970) 221-6740.
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