TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL 2016 WRAPUP, 11.6.16
History of Texas Highway Department, memoir by Waylon Jennings’s son, and much more close out TBF 2016
Despite off-and-on rain showers, thousands of bookfans lined up for panels in and around the capitol building on Sunday — many arriving early to clinch prime seats. Sessions with novelists like Robert Olen Butler, YA idols, musicians, children’s authors and illustrators, poets, and more drew standing-room only audiences. (The 11:00 a.m. panel, above, on the hundred-year history of the Texas Highway Department, attracted roadgeeks, history buffs, and Department of Transportation staffers alike.)
In a post-Festival email to followers, TBF organizers wrote, “Whether you are a reader, an author, a moderator, an exhibitor, or a volunteer, or any combination of the above, we couldn’t make this happen with you. Thank you, and we’ll see you at the 2017 Festival!” The Festival invites friends to revisit favorite sessions, authors, and moments of the 2016 Festival through TBF’s Facebook photo album. In the meantime, here are a few of our own pix to enjoy!
Above, from left: Radio host Dallas Wayne (left) talked with Terry Jennings about Waylon: Tales of My Outlaw Dad;Texas Monthly’sLauren Smith Ford (left) moderated a session with photographer Ryann Ford on her multi-year adventures chronicling the vanishing American highway rest stop (and yes, that’s Bevo in the projected photo, far right); Miles and Miles of Texas,featuring authors Carol Dawson (center) and Roger Polson (left) with TxDOT director James Bass (right).Photos by Barbara Brannon/Lone Star Literary Life, except where otherwise noted.
Above: The Writers’ League of Texas toasts winners of its 2015 Book Awards in fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, and poetry. Photos by Barbara Brannon/Lone Star Literary Life, except where otherwise noted.
FIRST-DAY COVERAGE, 11.5.16
Laura Bush, Jenna Bush Hager open 2016 Texas Book Festival to enthusiastic crowds
Jenna Hager Bush (above, left) and her mother, former first lady Laura Bush (center), read from their children’s book, Our Great Big Backyard, and answered questions posed by moderator Dorothy Guerrero (right). The coauthors signed books for Friends of the Texas Book Festival afterward. Photos by Bob Daemmrich, courtesy of the Texas Book Festival.
Saturday morning, thousands of bookfans defied the drizzle in downtown Austin to listen to and visit with their favorite authors and snag prized signed copies of books. More than 290 authors are featured at dozens of venues in and around the state capitol the weekend of Nov. 5 and 6, 2016, and events continue through 4:30 pm Sunday.
There’s lots more to the festival than author readings and signings, however. Among the tents clustered around the capitol from Colorado to Congress, visitors can talk with publishers, enjoy local food and beverage, watch a cooking demonstration, listen to live music, sit in on discussions with C-SPAN, take part in children’s activities, pet literary canines, and explore Austin’s historic streetscapes. Or, inside the capitol building, take a guided tour, dine at the Capitol Grill, and, of course, get a selfie under the dome.
Check out the schedule grid at www.texasbookfestival.org/festival-schedule or pick up a printed copy in last Sunday’s Austin American-Statesman. If you live out of town or miss the Sunday edition, there are also copies available onsite at the Festival in the Info Tent and TBF Store.
(Details and photo from organization’s website and press releases)
EVERY TEXAS DESERVES TO READ Volunteers with Literacy Texas can show you how!
TITANS OF TEXAS “Texas Book Lover” blogger and National Book Critic’s Circle/Lone Star Literary Life reviewer Michelle Newby (left) talks with New York Times best-selling author Leila MeachamRoses, Tumbleweeds, Somerset, Titans) about what it’s like to start a publishing career at seventy — and still be going strong.
BOOKS FOR EVERY INTEREST AND AGE Whatever your reading tastes, you’ll find something intriguing at the Texas Book Festival, from Malvern Books (above), the University of Texas Press (below), BookWoman (right), and many, many more.
OUR GREAT BIG BACKYARD Families and fans, above, applaud coauthors Laura Bush and Jenna Hager Bush, introduced by First Lady of Texas Cecilia Abbott.
Above: Readers show off their copies of Our Great Big Backyard, signed by the authors.
HALLS OF POWER Festival goers fill the corridors of the historic Texas state capitol, where the majority of author readings and panels are held.
TEXAS WRITER’S AWARD Texas Book Festival director Lois Kim (above, left) presents the annual Texas Writer’s Award to El Paso author Benjamin Alire Saenz (right). The award traditionally comes with a custom-made pair of boots — and a certificate of thanks on behalf of the state’s readers. El Paso publisher Bobby Byrd of Cinco Puntos Press (below, right) moderated a talk with Saenz, who read from his poems and talked about life on la frontera, and his work in progress.
HOT POLITICAL TOPICS Festival attendees crowded the C-SPAN tent (below) throughout the day, hearing from some of the nation’s top pundits and writers.
TEXAS TECH TRIO Authors (below, from left) Tom Hutton, M.D.Carrying the Black Bag)Tim PriceShooting for the Record)Frank SikesWest Texas Middleweight) sign their books in the Texas Tech University Press tent.
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