2017 FoCo Book Fest: Writings & Riffs

The messages and themes are universal. Their composition techniques, similar. They even share a power for making their audience feel emotions. You see, music and books are flip sides of the same artistic coin, each a valuable means of storytelling, self-expression, and social conversation.

The 2017 Fort Collins Book Festival celebrated that artistic fusion and the important roles reading, writing, and music play in our lives and our community.

Nearly 2,000 festival-goers attended panel discussions, writing workshops, author readings, book signings, and other exciting sessions throughout the day and engaged with 50 fantastic writers, performers, musicians, and presenters.

Festival Highlights

Headliners and featured authors included Sonic Youth co-founder, musician, visual artist, and author Kim Gordon; legendary folksinger and author of Liner Notes, Loudon Wainwright III; Craig Werner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee member and author; Steve Knopper, Rolling Stone contributing editor, author of MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson; G. Brown, founding director of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, music critic, and author of Red Rocks: the Concert Years; and Khadijah Queen, an award-winning author and poet whose most recent novel is I’m So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On.

We were excited to partner with The Music District and share the amazing talent of OneBeat musicians during the final leg of their global tour.

Local partner/sponsor Intersect Brewing created a specialty craft brew just for the event: Liner Notes, an American Blonde Ale. The brewery also hosted a vinyl exchange and fundraiser for the Book Fest.

Download a copy of the 2017 event program to see all of our festival 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.