QUID NOVI ORIGIN STORY

Years ago, Rick Griggs worked with the San Francisco Book Festival—“free and open to all.”  After moving to Colorado, his publishing mentor, Mary Lou Slater, suggested a book festival in Colorado.  His brain raced past Amazon’s fees, B&N’s monopoly, and how celebrity books were pushing aside good writers… He’d pass on the book-only festival thing. Fast forward—Rick thought what if you add inventors and innovations and something edgy.  Now, that was appealing!

THE ORIGINAL PLAN

The first committee dreamed of hundreds of authors and innovators on international flights, converging on Northern Colorado. Northern Colorado might be ideal. The committee would call them product makers, tool makers and market makers! Or, was ‘thought-leader’ getting cliché?

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QUID NOVI FACTS

Quid Novi is Latin for ‘that which is new’ or ‘what’s new.’

It was 2010 when Rick Griggs formed a small committee to build an annual festival calling it BGI – Books, Gadgets & Innovations. A brave Colorado State University intern suggested that the name was a bit boring. This prompted the founder to spend an evening coming up with options in English, Latin and other variations. The committee discussed and voted. The winner was “Quid Novi.”

Founding Principle

The intent is to teach people to cross boundaries in order to innovate. The new Quid Novi continues to believe that authors should mingle with inventors; publishers produce better books if they have inventor friends; inventors produce better products when they meet with writers and ‘idea people.’

Reinvention

The new Quid Novi Innovations consists of 9 monthly showcases highlighting an author + an inventor or idea originator. Most sessions conclude with a short, moderated panel. A compelling attraction for innovation, collaboration and just meeting some great people. A $20 entrance fee covers the evening program and light appetizers.

Publishers

A central aim of Quid Novi is to attract publishers, agents and book printers eager to uncover the latest trends and active contributors. Each month’s showcase is a potential match-maker for talent seekers in publishing, inventing and idea generation.