Aspen Words is hosting the first ever Aspen Literary Festival in September, following another summer of arts and culture events in Aspen, including the Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen Security Forum and the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Adrienne Brodeur, executive director of Aspen Words, said that a major event dedicated to literature has been missing from the city’s traditional lineup.
“We’re not trying to be an Ideas Fest,” she said. “This isn't going to be a weekend of lectures or big picture debates. The focus of the festival is a celebration of storytelling in all of its forms.”
While these lectures focus on current topics like health and national security, Brodeur said that humans are storytelling animals, and storytelling is fundamental to who we are.
Aspen Words announced the festival lineup earlier this week, which includes “The Secret Life of Bureaucrats” author Michael Lewis, “The Company We Keep” author Angela Flournoy, and “On Life, Death & What Comes After” author Sebastian Junger.
Moderators include journalist Alisyn Camerota, New York Times Book Review Editor Gilbert Cruz, “Tim Talks Books” host Tim Ehrenberg and Book of the Month Editorial Director Brianna Goodman.
Brodeur said these panels are designed to engage audiences with different genres, showcasing the current contemporary landscape.
“Books are just empathy-making creatures,” she said. “You cannot read a novel without getting entirely outside of your own head, your own life, your own perspective, because who knows where you are. You can be taken to the future, to the past, to a different class, a different country.”
The festival credits itself as being "open to all and most of it free” — a departure from the $15,000 price tag on some Aspen Ideas Festival passes. However, VIP tickets are going for $950.
The festival runs Sept. 26-28 and showcases 40 authors at various locations around Aspen, including the Wheeler Opera House, the Pitkin County Library and the Aspen Community Church.
