“Food for Thought” continues the Festival’s tradition of bold discussions of important community issues and the celebration of local literary arts.

Poudre River Public Library District has announced the dates and headliners for the fourth annual Fort Collins Book Fest, October 18 and 19 at unique venues throughout Old Town Fort Collins. The free literary festival offers two days of author interviews, panels, keynotes, performances, writing workshops, readings, and other community activities.

The 2019 theme, Food for Thought, is designed to be a literary feast for book enthusiasts, foodies, and anyone curious about food systems, agriculture, current food movements, and culinary practices.

“We’re excited to bring in cutting-edge thinkers and authors from around the country and from right here in Colorado,” says Anne Macdonald, Fort Collins Book Fest director and librarian with Poudre River Public Library District. “We hope Food for Thought will resonate with people and spark discussions around food, sustainability, and local and regional food culture.”

Nearly 3,000 attendees are expected over the two days, Friday 9 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. and Saturday 9:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. Information about the festival is available at FoCoBookFest.org.

2019 Fort Collins Book Festival Headliners

Headliners for the 2019 event include Saturday night keynoter Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota chef, founder of The Sioux Chef, recipient of the 2019 James Beard Leadership Award, and winner of the 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award (“The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen”); and Saturday morning opening keynote speaker Rick Bass, a National Book Critics Award finalist and environmental activist (“The Traveling Feast: On the Road and at the Table with My Heroes”). Also scheduled to appear is Joe Neguse, U.S. Representative for Colorado’s 2nd congressional district.

The headliners will be joined for book talks, panel discussions, readings and writing workshops by featured authors including food historian and award-winning writer Ken Albala (“Noodle Soup: Recipes, Techniques, Obsession”); author Stephanie Anderson (“One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture”); poet Adam Dickinson (“Anatomic”); Esquire magazine food and drink editor Jeff Gordinier (“Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking it All with the Greatest Chef in the World”); 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of San Antonio, Texas Octavio Quintanilla (“If I Go Missing”), and award-winning food journalist, community activist, and James Beard Award winner Toni Tipton-Martin (“The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African-American Cookbooks”).

Notable Colorado authors attending the festival include Ramona Ausubel (“Awayland”); Michael Carolan (“The Food Sharing Revolution: How Start Ups, Pop-Ups, and Co-Ops Are Changing the Way We Eat”), Bailey Cates (Magical Bakery Mystery series), Mark Easter (“Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Change”); Kathy Fish (Wild Life: Collected Works from 2003-2018”); Susan Harness (“Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption”); Christina Marie (“Cooking with Beer in Colorado”); Laura Resau (“Tree of Dreams”); Joshua Sbicca (“Food Justice Now!”); Kayann Short (“A Bushel’s Worth: An Ecobiography”); and George Wallace, Emeritus Professor, CSU Warner College of Natural Resources.

A full list of authors and presenters will be announced later this summer along with the festival schedule.

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 or by calling the Library District at (970) 221-6740.

The 2019 event is offered free to the community through the support and generosity of the City of Fort Collins Fort Fund, the City of Fort Collins Office of Economic Health, Bohemian Foundation, Poudre River Friends of the Library, Rocky Mountain Student Media, KUNC and the Colorado Sound, CSU Native American Cultural Center, Downtown Fort Collins Creative District, Northern Colorado Writers, Downtown Development Authority, Front Range Community College, Poudre River Library Trust, First National Bank, Savory Spice Shop of Fort Collins, Woodward Inc., Biblioboard, and other local businesses and creative arts organizations.