Texas Book Festival Lineup Revealed

AUSTIN, TX — Texas Book Festival officials on Tuesday revealed the annual event's 2019 schedule, which features more than 300 celebrated and emerging authors next month.

The popular event is spread throughout the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and along Austin’s iconic Congress Avenue on Oct. 26-Oct. 27. The Festival Weekend features authors participating in readings, panel discussions, and book signings; cooking demonstrations at the Central Market Cooking Tent; the return of C-SPAN2/Book TV and Latinx Lit Tents; children’s entertainment; a STEM panel track sponsored by Cirrus Logic; exhibitor booths; food vendors; and more.

The complete schedule is available now at https://www.texasbookfestival.org/2019-festival-schedule/.

“We have so many exciting and diverse topics for people to explore in this year’s schedule,” Executive Director Lois Kim said in a prepared statement. “We know the embarrassment of riches can be overwhelming, so my advice is to spend some time on our website. You’ll find fun author Q + As and lots of ways to explore the authors, books, and panels to help you figure out your must-see Festival picks.”

Schedule highlights for Saturday, Oct. 26:

• In the Hands of Our Hubris: Human Behavior in the Face of Climate Change

Building mansions up to the edges of coastlines, disrupting the deserts for oil—short-term human goals consistently come up against the obvious and ongoing effects of climate change. In their new books, bestselling author and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams (Erosion), Pulitzer Prize-winner Gilbert Gaul (The Geography of Risk), and journalist Nathaniel Rich (Lost Earth) examine human hubris in the face of our environment’s increasingly drastic cries for help—and its threats if our behavior doesn’t change. Cirrus Logic STEM track.
Author(s): Gilbert Gaul, Terry Tempest Williams, Nathaniel Rich
Moderator: Juli Berwald, Author of Spineless

Location: C-Span2/BookTV Tent

Time: 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

• Modern Royalty in Romance

Bad boy princes, the Queen's private secretary, and a love affair between the Prince of Wales and the First Son warm up the pages of new romance novels by Alyssa Cole (the Reluctant Royals series), Jasmine Guillory (Royal Holiday), and Cassy McQuiston (Red, White, and Royal Blue). What is it about royal love stories that make for such compelling romance? Join these authors as they discuss the allure of the crown and the regal desires spinning in the centers of their new books.

Author(s): Alyssa Cole, Jasmine Guillory, Cassy McQuiston

Location: Capitol Extension Room 2.030

Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12 p.m.

• What Can We Do? Actions to Help the Crisis at the Border

Children in detention centers, ICE raids in cities across the country—what can we do in the face of these enormous issues? Immigration lawyer J. J. Mulligan Sepúlveda (No Human Is Illegal) and professor William Lopez (Separated) share specific actions we can take.
Author(s): J. J. Mulligan Sepúlveda, William Lopez
Moderator: Joy Diaz, Texas Stander Producer, KUT

Location: NA

Time: 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.

• The Education of an Idealist: Samantha Power in Conversation

Heralded by President Obama as one of America’s “foremost thinkers on foreign policy,” Pulitzer Prize-winner Samantha Power, who served as Obama’s human rights adviser and was named US Ambassador to the United Nations, traces her journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. Join her as she shares her unique experience navigating the halls of power while trying to put her ideals into practice.

Author(s): Samantha Power

Location: C-Span2/BookTV Tent

Time: 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

• Truth and Toxicity: Fictional Accounts from the Underbelly of Unreliable Narrators and the Aftermath of Awful Men

The movement to root out toxic patriarchy in our culture has opened up a vital dialogue about the gray areas of truth, trust, and how we know what to believe. New novels by Jami Attenberg (All This Could Be Yours) and Susan Choi (Trust Exercise) take on the murky territory of manipulation, memory, community, and toxic men, exercising the form of the novel to demonstrate how complicated the conversation becomes—and how important it is to have it.
Author(s): Jami Attenberg, Susan Choi

Moderator: Stephanie Noll, Senior Lecturer at Texas State University

Location: Capitol Auditorium

Time: 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

• Penguin Classics Presents: What Makes a Classic? Writing a New Canon
  

What makes a classic book a “classic”? Join Elda Rotor, Vice President and Publisher of Penguin Classics, as she talks with novelist Andrea Lawlor, YA author LL McKinney, and TBD about what qualifies certain books for the classics shelf, those books that may have been overlooked as "classics," and the kind of literature coming out today that has the lasting power of a classic.

Author(s): Andrea Lawlor, LL McKinney, T Kira Madden

Moderator: Elda Rotor, Vice President and Publisher of Penguin Classics

Location: Capitol Extension Room 2.010

Time: 230 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

• Finding Their Power: Novels of Female Community and Autonomy

Women forging communities in the face of oppression, patriarchy, and violent history are at the center of new novels by Lara Prescott (The Secrets We Kept) and Carolina De Robertis (Cantoras). From CIA typists-turned-spies during the Cold War to lesbians defining themselves against a militaristic government in 1977 Uruguay, Prescott and Robertis have created characters who find power during tumultuous and oppressive periods of history.

Author(s): Lara Prescott, Carolina de Robertis

Moderator: Dalia Azim, Manager of Special Projects, Blanton Museum of Art

Location: Capitol Extension Room 2.028

Time: 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

• Toni Morrison: A Celebration

The legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Toni Morrison, author of such fundamental works to the literary canon as Beloved and The Bluest Eye, is deeply felt this year as we mourn her passing. Join writers Sarah M. Broom (The Yellow House), Saeed Jones (How We Fight For Our Lives), and Namwali Serpell (The Old Drift) as they remember and celebrate Morrison’s life and singular work.
Author(s): Sarah M. Broom, Saeed Jones, Namwali Serpell
Moderator: Jennifer Wilkes, Associate Professor in English and in African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin

Location: Capitol Auditorium

Time: 3:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Schedule highlights on Sunday, Oct. 27 include:

• Fiction of La Frontera — And What Comes After

The lives of immigrants finding themselves in America and those with their eyes set on a new future over the border are at the center of new fiction by Sergio Troncoso (A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son) and Gabino Iglesias (Coyote Songs). Taking different approaches to the experiences of people living at la frontera and beyond, Troncoso and Iglesias employ intimacy and grit in portraying the journeys, hopes, and desires of their characters before and after they cross the border.
Author: Sergio Troncoso, Gabino Iglesias
Moderator: Jorge Gomez
Location: Texas Tent

Time: 12 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.

• Sunrise/Sunset: Remembering the Life and Work of Bill Wittliff

Bill Wittliff is one of our greatest Texas writers and filmmakers. We were deeply saddened by his passing earlier this year and are grateful for the tremendous body of work he created in his lifetime. Today, his friends and colleagues come together to celebrate his work, including his new book of solar photography, Sunrise/Sunset.

Author(s): William Broyles Jr., Elizabeth Crook, Stephen Harrigan, John Spong

Moderator: Steven L. Davis, Literary Curator of the Wittliff Collections

Location: Capitol Auditorium

Time: 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m.

• What We Have In Mind: Writing About Mental Health in Different Genres

In new books that bridge autofiction, YA, and traditional fiction, Juliet Escoria (Juliet the Maniac), Mary Beth Keane (Ask Again, Yes), and Morgan Parker (Who Put This Song On) portray characters who struggle with not only their own mental health but also with the way their families and communities respond to them. How does a writer render the very personal, complicated nature of the human mind on the page? What does each genre have to offer to the discussion?

Author: Juliet Escoria, Mary Beth Keane, Morgan Parker

Moderator: Anna Solomon, Author of The Book of V.

Location: Capitol Extension Room 2.026

Time: 12:45 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

• Understanding Racism: How We Enact Change

Scholars and bestselling authors Harriet Washington (A Terrible Thing to Waste) and Ibram X. Kendi (How to Be an Antiracist) discuss new ways to deconstruct racism, examining facets ranging from systemic environmental racism to intersections with gender and sexuality. How can we change our systems of thought, government, and culture to transform the conversation around racism and enact social justice?

Author(s): Ibram X. Kendi, Harriet Washington

Moderator: Ashley Farmer, Assistant Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and History at the University of Texas at Austin

Location: C-Span2/BookTV Tent

Time: 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

• We’ve Been Through It: Stories of Strength and Survival

True stories of making it through the hardest, darkest human experiences are some of the most powerful and shared literature on our shelves. But what does it take to write the books? Authors Laurie Halse Anderson (Shout), Jaquira Díaz (Ordinary Girls), Cyrus Dunham (A Year Without a Name), and Jeannie Vanasco (Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl) share their stories of strength, survival, and the power of the pen to transform.
Author(s): Laurie Halse Anderson, Jaquira Díaz, Cyrus Dunham, Jeannie Vanasco

Moderator: Paula Mejía, Texas Monthly Culture Editor

Location: Kirkus Reviews Tent

Time: 2:15 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The 2019 Texas Book Festival is presented by H-E-B and AT&T. Other major sponsors include Brigid Cockrum and Family, Kirkus Reviews, Tocker Foundation, Buena Vista Foundation, Central Market, C-SPAN 2/Book TV, St. David’s HealthCare, Texas Monthly, Austin American-Statesman, and Pentagram.

For more information on the Texas Book Festival, please visit www.texasbookfestival.org and follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @texasbookfest.

ABOUT TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL

With a vision to inspire all Texans to love reading, the Texas Book Festival connects authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas, and imagination. Founded in 1995 by former First Lady Laura Bush, Mary Margaret Farabee, and a group of volunteers, the nonprofit Texas Book Festival promotes the joys of reading and writing through its annual Festival Weekend, the Texas Teen Book Festival, the Reading Rock Stars Title I elementary school program, the Real Reads Title I middle and high school program, grants to Texas libraries, and year-round literary programming. The Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas Capitol each fall and features more than 275 renowned authors, panels, book signings, cooking demonstrations, and children’s activities. The 2019 Texas Book Festival Weekend will take place October 26 - 27. Thanks to generous donors, sponsors, and 1,000 volunteers, the Festival remains free and open to the public. Visit www.texasbookfestival.org for more information, and join the conversation using the hashtag #txbookfest on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @texasbookfest.