VersoFest 2025 Kicks Off With Auction Of Signed Keith Richards Guitar

WESTPORT, CT — VersoFest, the annual four-day festival in Westport celebrating music, media, and creativity, will feature a silent auction of items signed by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.

The festival, hosted Thursday through Sunday at the Westport Library, includes panel discussions, workshops, concerts, and an art exhibit. This year’s event follows Richards' visit to the library on March 5, when he received the inaugural Governor’s Award of Excellence from Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont.

The auction will feature several signed items, including:

• A guitar autographed by Richards
• Two first-edition, first-printing copies of Life, his 2011 memoir, signed by the guitarist
• A framed concert photograph of Richards and the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden, signed by photographer Michael Friedman and Richards
• An original portrait of Richards by VersoFest 2025 featured artist 5ivefingaz, signed by both artists

The items will be displayed in the library’s Hub area during the festival. Bidding will take place via the BetterWorld platform, opening Thursday, April 3, and closing Sunday, April 6.

Proceeds will support VersoFest. More information and access to the auction can be found online or via QR codes available on-site during the event.

More on the Michael Friedman print: The image was taken in 1969 at The Rolling Stones’ Madison Square Garden concert that was featured in the documentary Gimme Shelter. Friedman took Janis Joplin, who he was managing at the time, to the concert. Since they had all-access passes, Friedman was able to be right on stage when he took the photo. His photographic negatives from1969 were discovered almost 50 years later and are featured in the book EXPOSED: The Lost Negatives and Untold Stories of Michael Friedman, by Friedman and Donna Vita.

More on Life: The long-awaited autobiography of the guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. With The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the songs that roused the world, and he lived the original rock and roll life. Now, at last, the man himself tells his story of life in the crossfire hurricane. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records, learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones’s first fame and the notorious drug busts that led to his enduring image as an outlaw folk hero. Creating immortal riffs like the ones in “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Honky Tonk Women.” His relationship with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the U.S., isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Marriage, family, solo albums and Xpensive Winos, and the road that goes on forever. With his trademark disarming honesty, Richards brings us the story of a life we have all longed to know more of, unfettered, fearless, and true.

Below are the other items up for auction; photos from the Westport Public Library:

— Two first-edition, first-printing copies of Life, Keith Richards' 2011 memoir

— A framed concert photograph of Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden, by photographer Michael Friedman

— An original portrait of Richards by VersoFest 2025 featured artist 5ivefingaz