Second annual Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop slated for Midland Sept. 16–18
The Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop returns to Midland this fall, with a diverse lineup of presenters, speakers, agents, editors, and authors. The event kicks off Friday evening, Sept. 16, 7:30–8:30 p.m. at Midland’s historic Yucca Theatre and continues throughout Saturday and Sunday on the campus of Midland College.
Author and journalist ReShonda Tate Billingsley will give a keynote presentation Friday evening, “When Words Leave the Page,” as part of a program featuring refreshments and author performances.
Billingsley is the national bestselling author of more than forty books. She writes adult and teen fiction as well as nonfiction. Several of her books have been optioned for movies, including her sophomore novel, Let the Church Say Amen, directed by actress Regina King, and produced by TD Jakes and Queen Latifah. Billingsley made her on-screen movie debut in the film, which aired in August 2015 and was one of BET’s highest rated original programs. TV One recently released the TV version of her book The Secret She Kept on July 10, 2016 and will be airing The Devil is a Lie in fall 2016.
Billingsley is also publisher, with Victoria Christopher Murray, of the new imprint Brown Girl Books.
Other presenters include editors and agents Jennifer Canzoneri, Katie Morford, Mark Falkin, Tricia V. Skinner — all authors in their own right. Kay Ellington and Barbara Brannon of Lone Star Literary Life and coauthors of the Paragraph Ranch series of West Texas novels will talk about aspects of the writing craft and the publishing industry. Poet Sawnie Morris; novelist and nonfiction author Jimmy Patterson; romance novelist Laura Drake; novelist Maria V. Snyder; and novelist Amy Williams round out the workshop’s programming.
Registration is open now at www.permianbasinwritersworkshop.org
(From organization’s website)
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Texas Book Festival to host Nick Offerman, Hannah Hart, and T.C. Boyle as part of 2016 festival weekend
Pre-order book tickets for popular author sessions available now
AUSTIN – The Texas Book Festival is excited to host Nick Offerman, Hannah Hart, and T.C. Boyle in support of their latest releases as part of the 2016 Texas Book Festival lineup. Offerman, Hunt, and Boyle will discuss and sign their new books during the Festival Weekend with a limited number of pre-order book tickets available now via the Texas Book Festival website. Tickets include one copy of the author’s book and a priority seat at his or her Festival session.
“It’s so exciting to finally share this news! I’m a huge fan of all three of these authors and can’t wait to have them share their latest work at this year’s festival,” said Julie Wernersbach, the festival’s literary director. “Each book covers different territory — woodworking, identity, social dynamics — with unique style. And I’m really excited to roll out our new experiment, offering festivalgoers the opportunity to have their books and seats waiting for them at the session, which giving them time to enjoy even more of the festival while also ensuring that we’re supporting the authors who make the commitment to appear here.”
America’s suavest carpenter, Nick Offerman, will discuss and sign his latest release, Good Clean Fun: Misadventures in Sawdust at Offerman Woodshop Sat., Nov. 5 at 12:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church. Offerman is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, and carpenter widely known for his breakout role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. Offerman’s new book shares his experiences of working at the Offerman Woodshop and takes readers behind the scenes of the woodshop, both inspiring and teaching them to make their own projects.
YouTube vlogger and bestselling author Hannah Hart will present her new memoir, Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded, Sun., Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church. This collection of narrative essays offers an intimate look at her life, including family, faith, love, sexuality, self-worth, friendship, and fame. Hart is best known for starring in My Drunk Kitchen, a weekly series on YouTube that has garnered more than 2.5 million subscribers and launched a bestselling book by the same name. She is one of today’s most popular Internet celebrities, with millions of followers across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.
T.C. Boyle will celebrate his fourteenth novel with The Terranauts, a deep-dive into human behavior in an epic story of science, society, sex, and survival. Boyle, the acclaimed, bestselling author of the PEN/ Faulkner Award–winning World’s End and The Harder They Come, will present The Terranauts Sat., Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. at Central Presbyterian Church.
Book tickets for these sessions are available only via Texas Book festival website. Purchasing a book ticket reserves one priority seat at the festival session and one copy of the author’s book. Limited free seating will be available day-of at the sessions on a first come, first served basis. Priority seating will be reserved for ticket holders, who will be able to pick up their book at the festival session.
For a schedule (coming in September) and more information visit www.texasbookfestival.org and follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @texasbookfest.
(From organization’s press release)
Kidder to Headline Friends of Dallas Public Library Gala Nov. 10
Tracy Kidder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author hailed as one of America’s greatest nonfiction narrative writers, will be the featured speaker at the Friends of the Dallas Public Library annual gala on Thursday, November 10.
The dinner will be held in O’Hara Hall, part of the newly renovated seventh floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in downtown Dallas.
Kidder is the author of ten books, including The Soul of a New Machine, an absorbing tale of the development of a new computer, which won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction and the National Book Award. His latest work, A Truck Full of Money, scheduled for release September 20, is being praised by Kirkus Reviews as “more engrossing work from a gifted practitioner of narrative nonfiction.”
The new book profiles Paul English, an unconventional billionaire entrepreneur who, among others things, founded Kayak.com, established a chain of schools in Haiti, and worked as an Uber driver to seek inspiration.
Kidder, 70, was born in New York City and served in Vietnam before becoming a writer. His book topics have ranged from a man who survived the Burundi genocide to become a doctor and a portrait of a small Massachusetts town to an elderly couple facing their end of their lives and a family building their first house.
The annual banquet benefits Friends of the Dallas Public Library (FODPL), the nonprofit organization that raises financial support and advocates for the city’s 29 libraries and their educational programs. Tickets are $175, and sponsorships are still available.
“Tracy Kidder is one of our most important writers, and we’re delighted to bring him to Dallas,” said Kate Park, FODPL executive director. “This year is the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize, and having a Pulitzer winner join us is especially significant.”
At the gala, FODPL will present the second annual May Dickson Exall Award, honoring outstanding contributions to the library system and named for the longtime civic leader who spearheaded the campaign to open Dallas’ first public library in 1899. The recipient will be announced later.
Among the highlights of the evening will be the silent auction of 16 table centerpieces created by Dallas artists inspired by literary themes. FODPL will receive half the proceeds from the auction, coordinated by the Creative Arts Center of Dallas. The sculptures are currently on display on the Central Library’s 4th floor.
“It’s only natural to have this collaboration,” said Dr. John Marcucci, a member of the center’s advisory board who is co-chairing the gala along with David DeSalvo. “The Dallas Museum of Art actually had its genesis in the library, and the library today has a lot of wonderful art. We hope to do this every year.”
For more information, log on to www.fodpl.org or call 214-670-1458.
(Information from organization’s press release)
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