Austin hosted the 16th Texas Book Festival at the state capitol building October 22-23 with 250 authors presenting and 35,000 in attendance. Los Angeles may boast the much larger Los Angeles Times Festival of Book, which attracts as many as 140,000 visitors; but when you compare LA’s population of 9.8 million to Austin’s 800,000, you see that Austin pulled off a bigger, per capita turn out. And this in spite of other exciting events—the Austin Film Festival and the Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival—that were competing for residents’ time and attention on the same weekend. Texas braggadocio aside, the 2011 Texas Book Festival was truly impressive. The names of celebrated authors who presented are too many to list, so I’ll mention only one—Paula Deen who appeared at the historic Paramount Theatre downtown—because she is probably the most recognizable. But do not be misled that celebrity trumped substance in the selection of writers and books for this event. Follow these links from the Austin American Statesman and see for yourself who was there. Because of other commitments, I was able to visit the festival for only one afternoon with the family in tow. We remained outside among the tents erected on the streets surrounding the capitol building grounds. One section was devoted to children’s books and entertainment; another to cooking demonstrations; and another to live music performances (in tune with Austin’s status as “live music capitol of the world”). I spent my time in the tents populated by the university presses of Texas,…
Austin hosted another Texas Book Festival over a beautifully crisp and sunny fall weekend, October 27-28. Having gone over budget at the vendor tents last year, I resisted temptation this time by heading straight for the capitol to hear authors speak. Not realizing that I would have to stand in line for a security check and then make my way through the bowels of the… [Read More]
Filed Under: Bill and Hillary, Clinton, H.W. Brands, John Spong, Lonesome Dove, Texas Book Festival, Ulysses Grant, William H. Chafe
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Not everyone has the willpower to sit down and write for an hour everyday. With pop-up notifications, the siren call of the internet, and everyday life getting in the way, sometimes even the formatting bar in your word processor can be enough to drive you away from wordsmithery. This overwhelming feeling of distraction is probably why there are multiple competing software applications aimed at creating… [Read More]
I love books. I love bargains. I love bargain books. Where do you do your bargain basement book buying? My first forays into used book buying were with my dad at the venerable Holmes Book Company on 14th Street in Oakland, California. Built in 1924, the store was spacious but dark with unpainted wood everywhere—floors, stairs, display cases, shelves—like Fezziwig’s warehouse crammed with books. My… [Read More]
Filed Under: 99 Cent Only Stores, bargain, Book, dollar store, Half Price Books, Recycled Reads, used books
Many memoir writers worry prematurely about the people they plan to write about and whether they might take offense or be hurt by recollections and revelations of past events. Stop worrying. Start writing. Give them something to talk about, as Bonnie Raitt sings. For those who struggle to sit down and inscribe their personal memories, the internal editor kicks in as soon as they pick… [Read More]
10/17/2012 UPDATE: In Publisher’s Marketplace I just discovered Michael Signorelli is the acquisitions editors for Harper Collins new imprint Inifinitum Nihil and their publication of folk singer Woody Guthrie’s 1947 Dust Bowl novel. I remember 20 years ago when Michael used to cut my lawn. That’s right. The boy next door on W. Enfield Center Road at the edge of the Tompkins County line. Now… [Read More]
Filed Under: Bob Dylan, Douglas Brinkley, Harper Collins, House of Earth, Infinitum Nihil, Johnny Depp, Woody Guthrie