8th Annual Writergrrls Book Fest to pay tribute to the late Debra Winegarten

AUSTIN — Austin writers Cindy Huyser, Peggy Kelsey, Seja Rachel, Polly Hughes, Agnes Savich, Lisa L. Moore, Tina Posner, Desiree Morales, Robin Bradford, Katherine Durham Oldmixon, and Allyson Whipple will be featured at the 8th Annual Austin Writergrrls Book Fest scheduled for December 2 at BookWoman, 5501 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin.

This year, the Writergrrls Book Fest will be a literary reading in tribute to the awar

(From organization’s press release)

Letters About Literature 2018 open for submissions from young readers

AUSTIN — Has a book brought you to laughter or tears, or changed your life? Write a letter to the author.

Letters About Literature is a reading/writing contest for fourth through twelfth graders under the direction of the Library of Congress. Texas submissions for the 2018–19 contest are due to the new online submission platform by December 14, 2018. A permission form is required for all students under the age of 13 on November 1, 2018.

Tens of thousands of students from across the country enter Letters About Literature each year. State winners receive $100 and a trip to the Texas Library Association Conference. National winners receive $2,000 and travel assistance to Washington D.C. for a special awards ceremony.

How to enter

There are three categories for contestants:

Level 1 — Grades 4-6

Level 2 — Grades 7-8

Level 3 — Grades 9-12

Read: Select a fiction or nonfiction book, a poem or play you have read that you feel strongly about. It might be a book that helped you through a difficult time, or it might be a book that simply touched your heart or inspired you.

Reflect: Think before you write. How did this author’s work change you or your view of the world? How and why are you different now than you were before you read this work?

Persuade:  Write a personal letter to the author stating how reading his or her work changed you. Be personal and persuasive! Support your ideas with specific details, including details from the work itself. This is not a fan letter, but rather a reflection on how an author influenced you.

Write: Type your entry in letter format. All submitted letters must be typed.

Submit: Upload your letter to the online submission platform. Be sure to read the submission steps and official rules from the Library of Congress here: http://read.gov/letters/

For more information, visit The Texas Center for the Book at www.tsl.texas.gov/lettersaboutliterature

(Information from program’s website)

OF DARKNESS from Dallas’s Deep Vellum nominated for prestigious International DUBLIN Literary Award

DUBLIN, IRELAND — Of Darkness, the bestselling, award-winning novel by Denmark’s Josefine Klougart (“the Virginia Woolf of Scandinavia”), translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken and published by Deep Vellum in Dallas, Texas, has been nominated for the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award.

This is the third nomination for a Deep Vellum book for this prestigious award, following Texas: The Great Theft by Carmen Boullosa (tr. Samantha Schnee) in 2016, and La Superba by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (tr. Michele Hutchison) in 2018.

Of Darkness is among 141 titles nominated by libraries worldwide for the €100,000 International DUBLIN Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English. Nominations include 39 novels in translation with works by authors from 41 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada, South America and Australia, and New Zealand.

Organized by the Dublin City Council, the 2019 Award was launched on November 19 by Lord Mayor Nial Ring, patron of the award, who commended the award for its promotion of excellence in world literature as well as for the opportunity to promote Irish writing internationally. “Dublin is a UNESCO City of Literature and cultural tourism is a vital part of the city’s economy,” he said. “This prestigious award enhances the city’s worldwide reputation as a literary destination.”

The International DUBLIN Literary Award is managed by Dublin City Council’s library service. Brendan Teeling, Acting Dublin City Librarian, announced that the 141 books eligible for the 2019 award were nominated by libraries in 115 cities and 41 countries worldwide, noting that 39 are titles in translation — spanning 16 languages — and 48 are first novels.

The 2019 judging panel comprises Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, bilingual Irish novelist and story writer; Martin Middeke, professor of English at the University of Augsburg, Germany; Hans Christian Oeser, translator, editor and travel writer; Evie Wyld, novelist and bookseller; and Ge Yan, author and PhD candidate in comparative literature. The non-voting chairperson is Eugene R. Sullivan.

The full list of 141 titles is available on www.dublinliteraryaward.ie. The shortlist will be published on April 4, 2019, and the Lord Mayor will announce the winner on June 12, 2019.

(From publisher’s press release)