Read my recaps of previous years: 2011, 2010

The Texas Book Festival is one of my most favorite events in Texas. The Texas Capitol (my favorite building in the state) is thrown open to the public and authors from near and far make their way there to talk books. Not only is the festival a time for me to spend time with my family and “my people” (book lovers), it also supports Texas public libraries. I’m even more grateful for that since the library I work at was a recipient of a Texas Book Festival grant a couple of years ago.

This year was great, leaps and bounds better than last year, which was a little disappointing in some ways.

Saturday

I started the festival off with a visit to “Class Acts,” a panel featuring Tim Green, Adam Rex, and Jon Scieszka. While they each were there to promote their latest books, they did speak some about previous books and their writing in general. This type of a panel is great because all three authors were very funny guys and had great camaraderie. The topic of bullying came up, and each writer talked about how they felt they were both bully and bullied at some point during grade school. Rex talked about how his experience as both informed his main character in Fat Vampire, a bullied kid who gains power as a vampire and turns into a bully as a result. It gave me a different perspective on the book, which I didn’t really care for. (I am, however, an evangelist for The True Meaning of Smekday, and if you haven’t read it, get on that.)

The next stop was a visit to hear two of the Onion’s editors talk about their latest book, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge. Rather than having a moderator who asked them specific questions, they gave a PowerPoint presentation. Unlike most PowerPoint presentations, this one was funny. They had the audience in stitches with gems like “Antelope: Another f***ing kind of deer” and “Egg: The most popular form of child to eat” plus the graphic above. They also talked about how the book was created, including an $8,000 trip to see Mount Rushmore and an additional $8,000 trip to verify their findings. I have Our Dumb World and enjoy referring to it from time to time, but the Onion’s encyclopedia speaks even more to my librarian heart.

Kristin Cashore and the back of my head.

Next up was “Fantasy Gets Real” with Kristin Cashore, Cinda Williams Chima, and Jasper Fforde. They talked about the usual things: writing process, how YA and SFF are often looked down upon by the “literary establishment,” worldbuilding, magic, naming characters. It was mostly interesting, but unfortunately Cashore spoke so softly and her mic was so far away from her that I caught only about half of what she said. (Is it appropriate in these instances to shout out “Could you speak up a little?” if the moderator clearly doesn’t see a problem? Regardless, I didn’t.) I did go stand in line to buy Bitterblue and get it signed, though. And it’s very, very good.

My last session of the day was “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility,” which was not about Spider-Man at all. It featured Marie Lu, Katherine Applegate, Andrea Cremer, Bree Despain, and Michael Grant. I’m not wild about any of those authors, but I thought the discussion would be interesting (and it was). The thing that sticks most firmly in my mind is that Michael Grant is a high school dropout. It’s also remarkable how many adults are still wild about Animorphs. Before the session started, two women in their 20s showed the authors their Animorphs tattoos on their ankles. (Since I find stories about animals quite dull, this series never appealed.)

Sunday

The first session I attended on Sunday was my requisite nerd session: “Jane Austen: Reading Between the Lines.” David Shapard talked about the process of annotating Austen’s novels, including his initial love for her writing and how his appreciation for her grew as a result of the project. Jennifer Ziegler should get the Best Moderator award for her work here, since her questions were by far the most interesting and thoughtful of any session I attended. Shapard talked some about how he used the OED as a reference to learn about how the meanings of certain words were different in Austen’s time, which I found fascinating (“condescending,” for example, did not have quite the negative connotation we apply to it now). 

There are photos of me more awkward than this, but not many…

Next was “Right Place, Right Time,” which featured Shana Burg, Avi, and was supposed to include Karen Cushman. Unfortunately, Cushman had to have surgery and couldn’t attend the festival, which was super disappointing, since I was really looking forward to seeing her alongside Avi, two of my favorite authors as a kid. But Avi was really great. Favorite line from the session: “I don’t teach lessons, I tell stories.” He also talked about how the author’s notes in his books are really for the parents and other gatekeepers, not the children – in a historical novel, the adults want to make sure the author got it right before approving it for the kids. I purchased his newest book, Sophia’s War, which sounds like something I would have loved as a kid. Normally I just hand the book over and get it signed silently, since I a.) don’t want to hold up the line; and b.) am afraid of strangers, but in this case I told Avi how much I liked his books when I was a kid, that I was now a librarian, and he told me he used to be a librarian as well. And then he suffered Matthew taking a photo of us. Nice.

I closed out the Festival by hopping over to see Garth Nix and Sean Williams discuss their collaborative effort, Troubletwisters. I’m not terribly interested in that series, but Nix spoke about some of his other books as well, including Sabriel and Shade’s Children, both favorites of mine as a child. (It was really great to see so many of the authors I loved as a child still writing and winning awards in my adult years.) Bonus: both authors are Australian, so everything sounded much more interesting thanks to the accents.

All in all, it was a really satisfying event. On to 2013…

This past weekend I traveled to Austin to attend the 15th annual Texas Book Festival, a two-day extravaganza in the capitol building and on the capitol lawns featuring a bevy of authors, illustrators, and readers. 

I can’t remember a time when the book festival was not a part of my life.  I always enjoy visiting the capitol building – my favorite building in the state of Texas and one of the few state capitols that actually looks impressive.  It was a beautiful weekend to be out in the sun, walking around the green capitol grounds and just relishing being among a huge throng of readers.

There were a couple changes this year that I wasn’t so wild about.  First, the House and Senate chambers are being renovated, so they were both closed and no events took place inside them (except the Senate chamber on Sunday for a few panels).  So instead of sitting at a desk and pretending to make Very Important Decisions, we were mostly in the capitol extension rooms downstairs.  That beautiful room off to the right is the House chamber, which I sadly did not get to see this year.  Unavoidable, but still disappointing.  

Second, for the first time in the history of the festival (at least that I can recall), security gates were installed at each entrance to the building.  Before this year, visitors could just walk right in with no pauses or lines, and no need to remove belts or watches or have their bags searched.  Not anymore.  That was probably the most disappointing part of the whole experience.  I’ve a feeling the gates are permanent, and I’d be lying if I said that fact didn’t diminish my love of the capitol more than a little.

But enough with the disappointments.  Overall, it was a terrific two days.  Here are some highlights.  Warning: this is a long post.  I just can’t help it.

Instead of battling the throngs of people packed into the Paramount to see Laura Bush, I elected to hear neuroscientist Simon LeVay talk about his book Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation.  LeVay was an excellent speaker: he described his research and fielded questions handily, managing to communicate his points clearly and without talking over the audience’s head (or talking down to the audience, either).  He’s conducting some really important research that has massive social implications.

Then I headed to the Paramount to see the Literary Death Match, an event where four authors paired up for a “read-off” and the winners were voted on by a panel of judges including Holly Black.  It was full of really cheesy and really raunchy humor, so definitely up my alley, although the first reading I could have done without.  Bob Shea, author of the picture book Dinosaur vs. the Potty, was the last author to read and he brought the house down with a reading of the aforementioned book, as well as with his presentation of his “work in progress”: Dinosaur vs. Writing Picture Books (I’m paraphrasing that – I can’t remember the exact title).  A few choice match-ups from that book include Dinosaur vs. explaining to your father what you do for a living (Dinosaur wins!), Dinosaur vs. obsessively googling your name (Dinosaur wins!), and Dinosaur vs. selling out (Selling out wins!).  Hilarious and the best part of Day One.

The last panel of Saturday that I attended was Vintage/Anchor books presentation of “Writers on Reading.”  I’ll be honest and say I only went because they hand out tote bags of free books each year, but I really could have skipped it.  None of the books I happened to receive really interested me, and the authors on the panel – J. Courtney Sullivan and Abraham Verghese – were merely mediocre.  I was particularly put off by both authors’ arguments that critical reviews of their books were unnecessary and if a reviewer couldn’t write a positive review, the reviewer should send it to someone who would.  Here at STACKED, we believe that each book has an audience (even if it’s a very small one), but we also believe in being honest.  Sullivan’s and Verghese’s line of thought didn’t sit well with me.

Next up was a quick walk through the tents and then it was time to head home for a brief rest before seeing Alton Brown at Central Market.  My family and I were lucky enough to score a few of the limited seats inside the venue, so we were treated to a solid half-hour of Alton Brown being his awesome self as he answered audience questions.  Afterward, he signed copies of his new book Good Eats 2: The Middle Years.  He was just as funny, energetic, and personable as his tv show indicates.

Day Two

First up on Day Two was a fantasy panel entitled “Portal to Imagined Worlds” featuring Cinda Williams Chima, Carolyn Cohagan, Ingrid Law, and Brian Yansky.  They were uniformly interesting and just a great way to start the day.  Fantasy was what made me a reader in the first place, and it’s still my greatest reading love.  I loved hearing about their path to being published and that not a single one of the four bothers to outline.  Every year at the Book Festival, I attend a panel that inspires me to write, and this one was it.

Next up was “English Language: Under the Hood” with Roy Peter Clark and Ben Yagoda.  I’m having trouble deciding what my favorite moment of this session was.  The first moment came when Yagoda shot down an audience member who stated that people nowadays (meaning young people, natch) neither read nor know how to use the English language properly.  His rebuttal was excellent and still makes me smile.  The second moment came when Clark launched into a few punny Tom Swifties, including “‘I dropped my toothpaste,’ he said, crestfallen.”  I’m glad I snagged a copy of Clark’s The Glamour of Grammar at TLA earlier this year.

The last event I attended was Tony DiTerlizzi, who introduced his new fully-illustrated (over 100 pages of color illustrations!) novel for middle graders The Search for WondLa.  He spoke about his influences (both literary and artistic) which include Alice in Wonderland, Peter and Wendy, and The Wizard of Oz.  The cover for the book in particular reminds me of W. W. Denslow’s illustrations.  The Wizard of Oz has long been near and dear to my heart (I practically learned to read on Baum’s books), and I was very impressed with both DiTerlizzi’s presentation, which was funny and interesting, as well as with his art, which is expressive and beautiful.  The whole book is a work of art, and I was very pleased to purchase it and have him sign it for me (He’s also a very nice man).  As I waited in line, I noticed several kids who just could not wait to start reading – their noses were in the book and didn’t leave it, even when they were next in line to meet the author.  That’s pretty awesome.

That’s my Texas Book Festival experience in a nutshell!  I can’t wait to go back again next year, where I might decide to skip the Vintage/Anchor books panel and where I’ll cross my fingers that the House and Senate chambers will be open again (pretty likely) and the metal detectors will have disappeared (not likely, I’m afraid).