Texas Book Festival 2016 leads off with Bush mother and daughter, Ha Jin, Arce, Cronin, Hollandsworth, Myles, Semple, Witliff, and more

The Texas Book Festival has announced sixteen of the authors who will participate in this year’s Texas Book Festival, happening November 5 and 6 in and around the State Capitol grounds in Austin. (The festival’s full 2016 lineup will be announced in early September; the festival, in its 21st year, plans to bring more than 250 acclaimed authors to the capital.)

Eileen Myles, I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems

American poet and writer Myles has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. With the reissue of her novel Chelsea Girls and the 2015 publication of this career-spanning collection of poetry, Myles’s fame and acclaim have reached new heights.

Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing

Debut novelist Yaa Gyasi’s new book just hit shelves and has appeared on virtually every must-read summer book list this year. The story follows several generations of a family in Ghana over three hundred years.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me, praised the story: “I think I needed to read a book like this to remember what is possible. I think I needed to remember what happens when you pair a gifted literary mind to an epic task. Homegoing is an inspiration.”

Diane Guerrero, In the Country We Love: My Family Divided

Guerrero, known for her acting roles in the series Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, was fourteen years old when her parents were detained and deported while she was at school. In the Country We Love is the moving story of the life that followed, as Guerrero, an American citizen, remained in America to continue her education. With over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, Guerrero’s story is not uncommon.

Jacqueline Woodson, Another Brooklyn

The National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming and more than a dozen books for young adults, middle grade and young readers now presents a new novel for adults. Set in 1970s Brooklyn, Another Brooklyn tells the story of a friendship between two young women coming of age as the city around them changed. Ann Patchett, bookseller and author of Bel Canto, describes it as “a moving meditation on girlhood, love, loss, hurt, friendship, family, faith, longing, and desire.”

Maria Semple, Today Will Be Different

Semple’s hilarious, huge bestseller Where’d You Go Bernadette was a runaway success. Today Will Be Different presents a day in the life of Eleanor Flood, who is determined to make today different, even as things with her son and husband go awry and a former colleague presents a buried family secret. Semple’s infectious humor, the same spark that made fans fall for the TV shows she worked on (Mad About You; Saturday Night Live; Ellen, and others), is on display in this big-hearted new book.

Andrés Neuman, How to Travel without Seeing: Dispatches from the New Latin America

Spanish-Argentine writer, poet, translator, columnist and blogger Andrés Neuman has published five novels, six poetry collections, several short stories and other pieces, and earned a long list of awards and accolades in the process. Granta magazine in Spanish and English named him one of the 22 Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists. Roberto Bolaño championed his work: “Neuman has a gift…. The literature of the twenty-first century will belong to Neuman and a few of his blood brothers.” Independent press Restless Books partners in bringing Neuman to this year’s Texas Book Festival to share his new book, in which he turns his nonstop travel touring after he won the prestigious Premio Alfaguara into a sharp, considered observation of the lifeblood of Latin America.

Laura Bush & Jenna Bush Hager, Our Great Big Backyard

The new children’s picture book by first lady and TBF founder Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush Hager celebrates our national parks on their 100th anniversary. The story of a young girl’s road trip from the Everglades to Big Bend inspires young readers to put down the cell phones and tablets and look out at the wonders of the natural world unfolding all around them.

Kwame Alexander, Booked

Here’s every reason to immediately fall in love with bestselling, award-winning author Kwame Alexander, if you haven’t already: his bio includes the statement, “Kwame believes that poetry can change the world.” Alexander is absolutely making a difference for young readers. Over the course of 21 books, he has received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American literature for Children, the Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor, The NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, and the Passaic Poetry Prize.

Bill Wittliff, The Devil’s Sinkhole

Texas writer Bill Wittliff is a distinguished screenwriter and producer whose credits include Lonesome Dove, The Perfect Storm, The Black Stallion, and Legends of the Fall. In this sequel to his novel The Devil’s Backbone, Papa and his cowboy amigo Calley Pearsall confront a legendary killer with a thirst for revenge and a psychopathic boy as the two friends search for the beautiful captive Pela Rosa.

Justin Cronin, The City Of Mirrors

Houston-based author Cronin’s phenomenal, bestselling post-apocalyptic trilogy that began with The Passage comes to a close with The City of Mirrors, a story Stephen King called “a thrilling finale to a trilogy that will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction.”

Lois Lowry, Looking Back: A Book of Memories

The festival is honored to welcome Lowry, legendary author of The Giver quartet, with a new and updated edition of her memoir. Lowry’s influence has been felt by generations of young readers who have read and discussed The Giver. Her memoir shares personal photos and memories from the life of one of our most celebrated writers.

Trevor Pryce, Amphibians’ End

Former NFL football player Pryce has written a graphic novel trilogy (illustrated by Sanford Greene) to inspire young readers with fast-paced illustrated stories. Amphibians’ End is the third and final book in the Kulipari series. Get ready for action and adventure!

Ha Jin, The Boat Rocker

Chinese-American poet and novelist Ha Jin has received several awards, including the National Book Award for Fiction, a PEN/Faulkner Award, three Pushcart Prizes, a Kenyon Review Prize, a PEN/Hemingway Award. His novel War Trash was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His forthcoming novel, The Boat Rocker, follows an aspiring author, an outrageous book idea, and a lone journalist’s dogged quest for truth in the Internet age.

Julissa Arce, My (Underground) American Dream

A graduate of the University of Texas, Julissa Arce rose in the ranks to become a rarity in the business world: a female Hispanic VP at Goldman Sachs. While she achieved her dream, Arce also kept her secret; she was an undocumented immigrant. In her new book, Arce shares the struggles, grief, fear and redemption that followed her on her road to success.

Skip Hollandsworth, The Midnight Assassin

In the late 1800s, when Austin’s night was pre-electric dark, murder ripped through the town in the dead of night. The violent acts were unthinkable, vicious and held the city in its grip for years. Texas Monthly writer Hollandsworth investigates the murders with a modern journalist’s sharp wit and riveting style of storytelling. A must-read for fans of Texas history.

For more about these authors, follow Texas Book Festival on Facebook, Twitter (@texasbookfest), Instagram (@texasbookfest) and sign up for the festival enewsletter at www.TexasBooKFestival.org.

(From organization’s press release and website)

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