Fort Worth BookFest features Latinx authors and books, spoken word events in second year

FORT WORTH — The Fort Worth BookFest’s stated goal is “to raise awareness of the transformative power of literacy.” In its sophomore year, the BookFest will expand its offerings in an effort to embrace differences and celebrate diversity.

One of the new features for the 2018event announced this week is “Nuestros Cuentos/Our Stories & Lucha Libro.” An author panel with Juan Perez, Ofelia Faz-Garza, Virginia Alanis, Sylvana Avila Alonzo, and Maribel Rubio, moderated by Richard J. Gonzales (Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas), will explore the Latinx experience. The panel will spotlight culturally contemporary Latinx authors and poets, descendants of the Indigenous Peoples of the pre-Columbus Americas. Authors will read from their published works and participate in a Q&A with the audience. For younger readers there will be Lucha Libro, an initiative to encourage kids to read more. Created especially for Fort Worth BookFest, these luchadores (wrestlers) fight for literacy.

The Differences & Diversity Spoken Word Competition will debut this year at the BookFest. Spoken word is “a mix of poetic words with a pinch of hip hop” that may also incorporate performance art such as theater and dance. The combination alchemizes into the tremendously popular competitive art form known as the poetry slam, which originated in Chicago. Internationally renowned spoken-word artist, author, actor, and activist Michael Guinn will facilitate the competition, which begins with a creative-writing workshop. Guinn’s special guest will be Christopher Michael, author of Persona Non Grata and Nuclear Orange, and publisher/owner of 310 Brown Street, founded to help performance poets transition into the literary arts. An open mic with MC by Tarif will present selected workshop participants during a thirty-minute performance.

The second annual Fort Worth BookFest will take place October 20, 2018, at Tarrant County College’s Trinity River campus. For more information, visit www.fortworthbookfest.com.

(Compiled from FWBF newsletter and website)

10th annual Texas Teen Book Festival author lineup announced

Thirty-six YA authors will be featured at the tenth annual Texas Teen Book Festival (TTBF) on the campus of St. Edward’s University in Austin on Saturday, October 6, 2018. The lineup includes Ebony Adams, PhD (History vs Women: The Defiant Lives That They Don’t Want You to Know), Adib Khorram (Darius the Great Is Not Okay), David Levithan (Someday), Samantha Mabry (All the Wind in the World), and Lilliam Rivera (The Education of Margot Sánchez).

The keynote speakers this year are Nic Stone and Neal and Jarrod Shusterman.

Nic Stone is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Dear Martin, a William C. Morris Award Finalist. At TTBF, Stone will present her second novel, Odd One Out, which explores “the complicated, sometimes confusing dynamics of friendship, love, and identity.”

Neal Shusterman is the National Book Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, including Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award, and Scythe, a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book. Neal’s son Jarrod will join him at TTBF to present their co-authored book, which is set in a dystopian future in which the California drought has spread throughout the country.

In addition, special guest Mary E. Pearson, the New York Times bestselling author of The Remnant Chronicles, Jenna Fox Chronicles, and many award-winning books for teens, will present her new novel, Dance of Thieves, with a new cast of characters. Pearson will also headline the first TTBF Trivia Contest.

More than 5,000 readers are expected to attend TTBF in its tenth anniversary year. As always, the festival is free and open to the public. For more information and a complete list of attending authors, please visit www.texasteenbookfestival.org.

(Information from TTBF website)

Inprint Houston announces 2018–19 authors for its Margarett Root Brown Reading Series

On Monday, July 23, Houston’s creative writing organization Inprint announced authors for its Margarett Root Brown Reading Series’ 2018–19 season during a special happy hour at Night Heron.

The new season kicks off September 24 with Esi Edugyan, author of Half-Blood Blues, whi go on sale August 1.

(Compiled from media reports)

Arts & Letters Live announces fall 2018 lineup

DALLAS — In its 27th season, Arts & Letters Live has announced tits fall 2018 author lineup. As always, the list is an impressive lineup of award winners and best sellers, including Sarah Bird (Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen, September 20), Doris Kearns Goodwin (Leadership in Turbulent Times, September 26), Andre Dubus III (Gone So Long, October 7), and Jesmyn Ward (Sing, Unburied, Sing, November 1).

Arts & Letters Live is a literary and performing arts series produced by the Dallas Museum of Art that features award-winning authors and performers of regional, national, and international acclaim. The series is recognized for its creative multidisciplinary programming — combining literature with visual arts, music, and film — and for commissioning new work inspired by works of art in the museum's collection and special exhibitions.

Widely acknowledged as a major contribution to Dallas’s cultural life, Arts & Letters Live has been a sellout at the Dallas Museum of Art since its inception in 1992. Audiences estimated at over 200,000 have attended more than 500 series programs. Arts & Letters Live has showcased over 300 regional, national, and international writers.

Texas Bound® features readings by Texas actors of short fiction by Texas writers. Well-known actors participating in Texas Bound have included Tommy Lee Jones, Kathy Bates, Larry Hagman, Marcia Gay Harden, Barry Corbin, and Doris Roberts.

Unless otherwise specified, Arts & Letters Live events are held in Horchow Auditorium at the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 North Harwood Street. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 13, at 10 a.m., and will be available online or buy calling (214) 922-1818. Anyone interested in becoming a Season Supporter should call (214) 922-1280.

For more information and the entire author lineup, visit www.dma.org/ALL.

(Information from DMA website)

TBF’s Literary Libations celebration begins August 12

The Texas Book Festival’s (TBF) Literary Libations celebration, an annual event benefiting Lit Crawl Austin, will be held August 12–15, 2018. TBF and its partners plan three art and culture events around Austin. This year’s partners are the Austin Film Society, American Short Fiction, and Chicon Street Poets.

Sunday, August 12

Location: Austin Film Society Cinema

Time: Party starts at 2 p.m.; film starts at 3 p.m.

Kick off Literary Libations with signature cocktails, a book swap and a special screening of The Cocoanuts. Bring a book to share.

Tuesday, August 14

Location: Prohibition Creamery

Time: Party starts at 5:30pm. Program runs from 6 to 7 p.m.

American Short Fiction, an Austin-based literary magazine, brings Austin writers Roger Reeves, Lara Prescott, Chaitali Sen, and Frances Schenkkan to Prohibition Creamery, a local bar and ice cream parlor.

Wednesday, August 15

Location: Stay Gold

Time: Party starts at 5:30pm. Program runs from 6 to 7 p.m.

Chicon Street Poets, Claudia Delfina Cardona, Jesus Valles, and Mónica Teresa Ortiz, will present a poetry showcase.

For more information and special discounts, visit www.texasbookfestival.org.

4th Annual Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop set for Oct. 13-14

Now in its fourth year, the Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop annual event will feature writing coaches, agents, and publishers from around the country, October 13-14, 2018.

The two-day workshop event will be held in Midland, at the Marie Hall Academic Building at Midland College.

The workshop will feature ten speakers, including Margie Lawson, Christie Craig, Manning Wolfe, David Farland, Reavis Z. Wortham, Kristen Marten, Stephen Graham Jones, Donna M. Johnson, B. Alan Bourgeois and Arlene Gale.

Twenty-one workshop topics will be covered, including deep editing techniques, character building, writing a thriller, how to launch your writing career quickly and marketing, renegade style.

The Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and is organized by the Permian Basin Bookies in collaboration Midland College.

For more information, visit www.permianbasinwritersworkshop.org

(Information from organization’s press release)

Texas Sports Hall of Fame to hold second annual Book Festival August 11

WACO — The Texas Sports Hall of Fads, the museum the Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame and Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.