The Booked! series continued at the Fernie Library last Friday by welcoming rock star Dave Bidini to discuss his latest novel Keon and Me.
Bidini isn’t a stranger to Fernie, having played here with his band The Rheostatics at The Gathering Music Festival back in 2001.
Emma Dressler, library director and Booked! organizer, noted that to have someone of Bidini’s writing caliber and name recognition brought a variety of new faces of all ages to the library.
“It’s interesting looking at the crowd right now, I’m seeing a lot of people that aren’t usually here … [and] there are people here in their 20s and then also in their 70s,” she noted.
Prior to appearing at the Booked! event, Bidini put on a small house concert to generate funds for the event.
“He was a very generous performer, very charismatic,” said Dressler. “He played for much longer than he intended to. It was great, everyone was singing along with him. It was a really special evening.”
The concert ultimately raised $400 for the event.
Bidini’s book Keon and Me is meant to capture the moments of Bidini’s life that parallel alongside famous Toronto Leafs hockey player Dave Keon. The duality of the narratives depicts the history of the famed athlete as well as a biography of Bidini’s life in relation to his hero.
“I came across these kids wearing a [Dave Keon] sweater on the corner of my street and it just brought me back to all sorts of memories of myself at that age,” said Bidini of the inspiration behind the book, which he said is also described in the book itself.
The next installment of the Booked! series will be held January 31.
So far, three acclaimed authors have been invited to the City of Fernie, allowing book readers to meet the author behind the words.