BrownGirl BookSpeak
  • Home
  • Journal
  • Reading Challenges
    • Perpetual Challenges
  • Almanac
    • 2015 Reads
    • 2012 Reads
    • 2011 Reads
    • 2010 Reads
    • 2009 Reads
  • BrownGirl Speaks
  • Contact

Adventures at the Texas Book Festival

10/31/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
I actually don't know if I had any real adventures except maybe when speed walking through the festival going from an indoor panel discussion in the Capital building to the book signing tent and back to Capital building for another discussion. But, let me back up to the beginning...
As some of you may know, I live in Memphis, TN. We have no book festival and that's all I'll say about that. The Texas Book Festival is fortunately in a city I already adore and my best friend happens to live there as well.

Picture
After a not so cheap plane trip, I'm there and already thinking about how much I'll want to make this stay permanent. The day of the fest my best friend drops me off (mom duties kept her away for a few hours) and I begin to navigate a small section of downtown Austin solo. I was a little emotional (judge me!) at seeing all of the tents, especially the one with the Book-TV sign and the ubiquitous host of the live book festival broadcasts. Hey, I'm 30-something and have never been to a book fest. I was moved seeing shoulders saddled with tote bags filled with books, eternal lines in the Barnes & Noble tent to purchase books for author signings, and eyes scanning the weekend's itinerary then bodies urgently searching for the room of their favorite author's discussion panel. But what was the highlight of the event for me was meeting a fairly new favorite author, Mat Johnson. Now, if you follow my tweets, you already know what went down. But in case you don't....

Picture
The first panel I attended was a discussion titled "Wrestling with the Classics" that featured Mat Johnson, Hilary Jordan, and David Liss. They each released this year novels that were takes on literary classics. For Jordan's When She Woke inspiration came from The Scarlet Letter and Johnson wrestled with Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Each author discussed and answered questions on why and how they approach the respective classic for which they were inspired. As an aside, Hilary Jordan's dystopian novel has a very fascinating premise: Individuals are physically colored according to their crime. The main character is red because she has an abortion which in the dystopian future is illegal. After the panel, I bravely went up to where the authors were seated and introduced myself to Mat Johnson who was very gracious. After a mad dash to the book signing tent, he signed my copy of Pym and suggested we take a picture of which I was all too pleased to oblige. 

Picture
Picture
After my mad dash back to the Capital building, I enjoyed a great presentation from artist and author Kadir Nelson on his newest children's book, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Of course, I purchased a copy and got it signed for my son. This is when my best friend joined me and we perused and shopped a bit before leaving for lunch.

Picture
Later that night, we went to Cheer Up Charlie's in East Austin for the festival's first lit crawl which featured various authors at local venues all in close proximity like a pub crawl. The event at CUC was called Five Things and the invited authors from the fest had to prepare an original piece based around a spirit filled beverage. The chosen five were Erin Morgenstern, Dominic Smith, Hillary Jordan, Mat Johnson, and Kathleen Flinn. I have to say I was most impressed with Dominic Smith's piece which incorporated gin and I was not familiar with this author before that night. His writing was very vivid and captivating. Johnson was hysterical just as he is on Twitter. He wrote a lively piece about a teenage boy who was basically tired of masturbating and ready for his first real sexual experience which then explodes into major drama. I'm having technical difficulty with the crude snippet of video I took on my cell phone. But trust me, it was hilarious.

That brought my adventure with the Texas Book Festival to a close. I had a blast during that and the rest of my time in Austin. I'm already looking forward to next year's festival and hopefully I'll be able attend at least one other (*ahem* Harlem Book Festival). 

1 Comment
Kim g. link
1/13/2012 06:08:26 pm

Kadir Nelson is a demigod. I took my longest son to see him and purchase all his books. Your blog is beautiful.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Authors and publishers feel free to check out my review policy and contact me regarding review requests.

    Read the Printed Word!

    Terri's bookshelf: quirky-brown



    More of Terri's books »
    Book recommendations, book reviews, quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists

    Archives

    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    January 2013
    September 2012
    January 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    Categories

    All
    Author Interviews
    Bookish
    Book Reviews
    Books On...
    Challenges
    Poetry


    Picture
    Quirky Brown Reviews 2012
    Quirky Brown Reviews 2011
    Reading Suggestions
© BrownGirl Speaks 2009-2014