Bookish Texas • Events Around the State

The most comprehensive listing of book and author events, festivals, readings, lectures, and signings in the Lone Star State

Don't see your book or literary event here? Email Events@lonestarliterary.com with your complete info two weeks in advance of the issue in which your event is scheduled, and we'll include it.

Bookish goings-on in Texas

compiled exclusively by Lone Star Literary Life

FOR THE WEEK OF 10.17.2021

Please scroll down for story times

SPECIAL EVENTS (*Denotes In-person Events.)

The 16th annual Buns & Roses Virtually Yours Weekend! October 15-17

*Waco, W O R D F E S T featuring poet Kathleen Hudson, Ph.D., October 15-17

Jaipur Literature Festival Houston, October 16 & 17

Virtual Tweens Read Book Festival, October 18-23

Virtual National Black Book Festival, October 21-23

*San Angelo, Best Little Book Sale in Texas, Adult Literacy Council of the Concho Valley, October 21-25

DFWCon: The Dallas-Fort Worth Writers Conference, October 23 & 24

Texas Teen Book Festival, October 23 & 24

EXHIBITIONS (*Denotes In-person Events.)

*Fort Worth, In His Own Words: The Life and Work of César Chávez, A Humanities Texas Traveling Exhibition, through October 22

 *Southlake, Fact, Fiction, and the New World: The Role of Books in the Making of America, A Humanities Texas Traveling Exhibition, through October 29

*Ranger, Texas Writers, A Humanities Texas Traveling Exhibition, through October 31

*Kyle, Voces Americanas: Latino Literature in the United States, A Humanities Texas Traveling Exhibition, through November 6

National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, GOLDEN LEGACY: 80 YEARS OF ORIGINAL ART FROM GOLDEN BOOKS

SUNDAY, October 17 (*Denotes In-person Events.)

*Dallas, JCC Dallas, BookFest In Your Living Room Present: Einat Nathan, My Everything in Conversation with Tara Ohayon in person at the GFEC for Mimosas in the Morning – Einat Nathan virtually from Israel, 10AM

The Writing Barn, Mini-Retreat for the Weekend Warrior with Claire Campbell ONLINE, 10AM

*San Antonio, The Twig Bookshop, Mark Lardas, The Vanished Texas Coast, 12PM

The Writer’s Garret, Stone Soup Prose, 2PM

The Writing Barn, FREE Virtual Picture Book Launch with Author Anne Wynter! 3PM

Writespace Houston, Approaching Revision as a Creative Endeavor, 3PM

MONDAY, October 18 (*Denotes In-person Events.)

Murder By The Book, MTM Presents Anthony Horowitz - Virtual Event, 11AM

Murder By The Book, MTM Presents Megan Collins - Virtual Event, 6PM

*Dallas, World Affairs Council of Dallas/ Fort Worth, Joe Weisberg – Russia Upside Down: An Exit Strategy for the Second Cold War, Book Signing & Talk, 6PM

*Paris, Paris Junior College, Live Presentation: “Alexander Hamilton: Who He Was, Why He Was Important, and Why He Still Matters Today”, 6:30PM

Inprint Houston, INPRINT ANTHONY DOERR READING, 7PM

Malvern Books, Austin Community College Literary Coffeehouse with Stephanie Macias, 7PM

Murder By The Book, MTM Presents Clea Simon - Virtual Event, 7PM

The Writing Barn, Perfecting the Picture Book I with Lisa Katzenberger (ONLINE), 7PM

TUESDAY, October 19 (*Denotes In-person Events.)

Writing Workshops, Narrative Nonfiction Writing: Turning Facts Into Gripping Scenes 2-Day Zoom Workshop, 11AM

Austin Book Arts Center, Tunnel book construction, 6PM

Blue Willow Bookshop, Jennifer Mathieu, author of Moxie, will appear in conversation with Samira Ahmed for the release of Jennifer's new YA novel Bad Girls Never Say Die, 7PM

Brazos Bookstore, VIRTUAL - Veera Hiranandani - HOW TO FIND WHAT YOU’RE NOT LOOKING FOR, in conversation with Ruth Behar, 7PM

*Dallas, JCC Dallas, BookFest presents: The Upstander, with Jori Epstein and Max Glauben, 7PM

National Black Book Festival, Black Authors Matter TV – with Paula Chase, CW Porter, Jean Alicia Elster, Vernon Robinson, hosted by Rhonda Lawson, 7PM

The Writer’s Garret, Stone Soup Mixed Genre, 7PM

*Austin, Austin Poetry Slam, Workshop Series and Open Mic Hosted by Mike Whalen, 8PM

Austin SCBWI, Webinar: Perfecting the Nonfiction Proposal with Jacqui Lipton, 8:30PM

*San Antonio, PuroSlam Poetry, PuroSlam ft. DJ Donnie Dee, 9:30PM

WEDNESDAY, October 20 (*Denotes In-person Events.)

The Writing Barn, Craft Webinar: Writing Picture Books About Difficult Topics in History with Marcie Colleen & Amanda Davis, 1PM

*San Antonio, The Twig Bookshop & Word Design Press, Jimmy Adair will moderate the session & the authors, Robert Flynn, Mo Saidi, & Natalia Treviño, will introduce their recent literacy work, 5PM

Gemini Ink, Veteran’s Writing Collective with Sarah Colby, 6:30PM

Writers’ League of Texas, “How to Make Twitter a Writer’s Best Friend” with Richard Santos, 6:30PM

Blue Willow Bookshop, Kathleen Glasgow will appear in conversation with David Levithan and Jennifer Niven for the release of Kathleen's new YA novel You'd Be Home Now, 7PM

Gemini Ink, The Big Texas Read Featuring Sherry Kafka Wagner, 7PM

Murder By The Book, Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry in conversation with Megan Collins - Virtual Event, 7PM

LBJ Presidential Library & Harry Ransom Center, An Evening with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa (Online Program), 7PM

*Houston, Write About Now, Poetry Slam! 7:30PM

*El Paso, The Barbed Wire Open Mic Series (A BorderSenses Event), Open Mic Night at Craft Rhythm & Brews, 9PM

THURSDAY, October 21 (*Denotes In-person Events.)

*Amarillo, Eat-Rite, Book signing of Betty M Reeves, author of Christian Historical Fiction for Kid and their Adults, 11AM

*San Marcos, Katherine Anne Porter Library Center, Presents Forrest Gander, Be With, 3:30PM

*New Braunfels, The Book Haus & Water 2 Wine, Adult Book Fair, 4:30PM

BookPeople, VIRTUAL EVENT: SUSAN ORLEAN - On Animals, 6PM

Harris County Public Library, Gulf Coast Reads 2021: Live with Author TJ Klune! 6PM

Writers’ League of Texas, October Third Thursday: “Debut Fiction: The Big (Publication) Day and Beyond”, 6:30PM

JCC Dallas, BookFest In Your Living Room Present: Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman, Girls with Bright Futures, 7PM

Murder By The Book, CWoC Presents Edge of Your Seat Thrillers - Virtual Event, 7PM

Texas Tech, Creative Writing Reading Series: Patrick Rosal – Virtual Reading, 7:30PM

*Waco, Fabled Bookshop & Café, Fabled Hosts Analog Waco, 8PM

*Irving, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, Jamie Foxx: Act Like You Got Some Sense Book Tour, 8PM

FRIDAY, October 22 (*Denotes In-person Events.)

JCC Dallas, BookFest In Your Living Room Presents: David Grossman, More Than I Love My Life: A Novel, 12PM

*Colleyville, Colleyville Public Library, Special Author Reading by Kristine Kahanek of Katie and the Magic Umbrella: A Stormy Adventure. 3PM

Jeff Davis County Library, Literary Landmark – Dedication & Celebration of Lonn Taylor, 5PM

Murder By The Book, Spencer Quinn - Virtual Event, 7PM

*Dallas, The Dallas Poetry SLAM, 8PM

*El Paso, The Barbed Wire Open Mic Series (A BorderSenses Event), Poetry Pachanga! A Night of Spoken Word Poetry + Open Mic, 8PM

SATURDAY, October 23  (*Denotes In-person Events.)

*Weslaco, Art Spark Texas & El Zarape Press, Earth Tones: Exploring the Creative in Nature, 8AM

Writespace Houston, Writing Speculative Fiction from Real History with Nyri Bakkalian, 9:30AM

*Austin, Austin Book Arts Center, Drum Leaf Binding, 10AM

The Science of Reading: What I Should Have Learned in College, Don M. Winn – Raising A Child with Dyslexia, Author Talk, 10AM

*Fort Worth, Monkey & Dog Books, Robert Schwab Book Signing at Monkey & Dog Books, 10AM

Writers’ League of Texas, “Horror Writing: Haunted Houses, Haunted Bodies, Haunted Babies” with Jessica Bross, 10AM

The Writer’s Garret, Stone Soup Prose & Poetry, 10AM

*San Antonio, The Twig Bookshop, Clay Coppedge, Texas True Crime Miscellany, 11AM

Austin Bat Cave, Contemplating Mortality to Fuel Your Writing Practice with ire'ne lara silva, 12:30PM

*Fort Worth, Barnes & Noble, Author Brandy Herr Book Signing, 1PM

*Houston, Daiq’s, Jeremy Lahar Presents: The "Officer Friendly" Book Launch, 1PM

*Boerne, The Boerne Bookshop, Hal Evans Book Signing, 1PM

*Austin, The Hive, I wrote a book — let's celebrate! Author Joey Held –Kind, But Kind of Weird: Short Stories on Life's Relationships! 1PM

Writespace Houston, Engaging the Uncanny: Spooky Stories and our Haunted World with Kathryn Peterson, 1PM

Writing Workshops, Finding the Humor in the Holidays: Writing Seasonal Topical Satire Zoom Seminar, 1PM

*Denton, Patchouli Joe's Books & Indulgences, Author visit & Book signing: Donna Fielder, 2PM

*Houston, Houston Public Library, Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza - Books Alive! Raúl The Third, 2PM

Tumblewords Project, Stacy Ardis Styson: Lovely Suffering, 2PM

The Writer’s Garret, Terrible Poetry, or How To Make Bad Poems Better with Logen Cure, 2PM

*Amarillo, Burrowing Owl Books, Join us at the Amarillo Owl to welcome Russell Camp with his debut novel, 4PM

The LOGOS Collective, LOGOS presents Starshine & Clay Reading, feat. Asmaa Jama, Michael Frazier & Malcolm Tariq, 5PM

*New Braunfels, The Book Haus, H&HH v.8 Music Fest/ Poetry and Arts Market, 6PM

*Dallas, The Wild Detectives, Talking Dirty After Dark, 9PM [Ticketed]

SUNDAY, October 24 (*Denotes In-person Events.)

*San Antonio, San Antonio Public Library, Gil Dominguez, author of "This Used To Be San Antonio", 11AM

*New Braunfels, The Book Haus, Author visit/Book Signing with Hal Evans, 12PM

*San Antonio, The Twig Bookshop, Amber Ybarra, Thriving Into Thirty, 12PM

*Dallas, Interabang Books, Andrew Porwancher with The Jewish World Of Alexander Hamilton, 2PM

Sisters in Crime: Heart of Texas Chapter, The Yellow Brick Road to Publishing, 2PM

Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Borderlands Issue 53 Final Reading, 4:30PM

Brazos Bookstore, Christ Church Cathedral Writing Workshop with Cameron Dezen Hammon, 6PM

STORY TIMES (*Denotes In-person Events.)

Lark & Owl Booksellers, Super Silly Story Time, M, W & F, 9:30AM FACEBOOK LIVE

Allen Public Library – M-TH at 10:15 via Facebook Live

Leaves Books & Tea, read-aloud story time, T-Th, 2PM FACEBOOK LIVE

Seguin Public Library – Toddler & Preschool Storytime via Zoom, T & W, 10AM, or for the Whole Family, T at 11:15AM outside

Dallas Public Library, children’s story time, T & Th, 10:30AM ZOOM

*Fort Worth, Monkey and Dog Books, Story Time, T & F at 10:30AM

Old Town Books, children’s story time, T & F, 10:30AM FACEBOOK LIVE

Longview Public Library – T, Facebook Live at 10:30AM

North Richland Hills Library, virtual story time, T, 10:30AM FACEBOOK LIVE

*New Braunfels, The Book Haus, musical story time, T, 10:30AM

*Midland, Centennial Library, story time, W, 10:30AM & 11:30AM

*Midland, Downtown Library, story time, TH, 10:30AM & 11:30AM

Texian Books, tiny Texians story time, F, 10:30AM FACEBOOK LIVE

The Twig Book Shop, Miss Anastasia online story time, F, 10:30AM INSTAGRAM LIVE

Brazos Bookstore, virtual story time, Sat, 10:30AM FACEBOOK LIVE

Harris County Public Libraries - Fairbanks Branch: a variety of story times throughout the week

San Antonio Public Library, children’s story times throughout the week

El Paso Public Library, a variety of children’s programming throughout the week FACEBOOK LIVE

Houston Public Library, virtual story time, daily, times vary.

Laredo Public Libraries, story time live, days & times vary, YOUTUBE

Irving Public Library, online story time, days & times vary, YOUTUBE

The Doseum, virtual story time, days & times vary.