VersoFest Visionary 2025: Musician, Artist, and Icon Patti Smith

VersoFest 2025 is kicking off with a legend of music and letters.

Patti Smith, the acclaimed singer/songwriter, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and National Book Award winner, will open The Westport Library’s fourth annual music and media festival on April 3.

Smith is revered for her work as a performer and songwriter — her 1975 album Horses has been hailed by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 albums of all time. Her 2010 volume, Just Kids, won the National Book Award for nonfiction. She is also the author of New York Times best-sellers M Train and Year of the Monkey and works of poetry including Auguries of Innocence.

At VersoFest, Smith will discuss her latest volume, A Book of Days, with award-winning journalist and rock and roll memoirist Alisyn Camerota. Inspired by Smith's wildly popular Instagram account, the New York Times best-selling photo book A Book of Days catalogs 365 images taking the reader through a single year of Smith’s life.

Each ticket for this event include a seat in the Trefz Forum for Smith's talk as well as a copy of A Book of Days.

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Alisyn Camerota is an award-winning journalist and author. She spent 10 years anchoring various programs on CNN, everything from the network’s morning show, New Day, to primetime specials. Before CNN, Camerota was an anchor and correspondent at FOX, best known as part of the FOX+Friends franchise. In her three decades in journalism, Camerota covered major stories nationally and internationally, earning two Emmy Awards for her breaking news coverage of the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the on-air arrest of Roger Stone. She also received the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for her breaking news coverage of Hurricane Maria’s impact on Puerto Rico, and a DuPont-Columbia Award for coverage of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

Camerota's debut novel, Amanda Wakes Up, was selected by National Public Radio as one of the best books of 2017, and by Oprah Magazine as “a must read.” Her recent memoir Combat Love instantly became an Amazon best-seller. She is on the national advisory council of The News Literacy Project, which works to teach middle and high school students how to spot misinformation, as well as the importance of freedom of the press.

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VersoFest is four days of music, media, and creativity, running next year from April 3 to April 6 — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge. VersoFest includes conversations where experts share their perspective and vision; intimate workshops provide creators the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft; performances entertain and inspire.

Past VersoFest guests include hip hop legend Chuck D, established hit-makers Spin Doctors and the Smithereens, up-and-coming bands Sunflower Bean and the Lemon Twigs, rockers Lez Zeppelin, famed producers Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band) and Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex), Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler, the Doors drummer John Densmore, Cramps drummer Miriam Linna, Alice Cooper Group bassist Dennis Dunaway, hip hop originators Tony Crush and Grand Wizzard Theodore, Manic Panic’s Tish and Snooky, and a wide array of authors, photographers, artists, and thought leaders.