The 2020 Fort Collins Book Festival was originally scheduled over two weekends in October: October 9-11 and October 16-18. Due to the health and safety concerns with the pandemic (COVID-19), the book festival went digital, offering an exciting series of professionally-produced and virtual one-hour, interactive book talks, author interviews, readings, demos, and more. The festival showcased the themes from our five-year history: Craft Brewing, Music, Science/Technology, Food, and Outdoors.
Select 2020 virtual sessions are available for on-demand viewing on YouTube.
Special thanks to Doug Usher, founder and Creative Director of VIA , a Fort Collins-based creative studio, for his work on the 2020 virtual festival.
Festival Highlights
Headliners and featured authors included 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); Jennifer Jewel, (Cultivating Place); and author/photographer John Fielder (Colorado’s Highest: The History of Naming the 14,000-Foot Peaks).
These presenters were 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; Idris Goodwin, author, breakbeat poet, and Director, Colorado Springs Fine Art Center; and Fort Collins Poet Laureate Autumn Bernhardt.
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.