Humanities Texas gets you in handshake range of some of Austin's finest authors with this weekend's Holiday Book Fair.
The annual fundraiser pairs discounted books for purchase with elbow-rubbing access to 20 Austin authors, including (deep breath)
H.W. Brands (
The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield),
Stephen Harrigan (
Remember Ben Clayton),
Jake Silverstein (
Nothing Happened and Then It Did),
Ruth Pennebaker (
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough),
Oscar Casares (
Amigoland),
Don Graham (
State of Minds: Texas Culture & Its Discontents),
Norma Cantú (
Moctezuma’s Table: Rolando Briseńo’s Mexican and Chicano Tablescapes),
Will Erwin & Jason Walker (
Texas State Cemetery),
Thomas Hatfield (
Rudder: From Leader to Legend),
Rhonda Lashley Lopez (
Don't Make Me Go to Town: Ranchwomen of the Texas Hill Country),
Jeremi Suri (
Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama),
James Riddlesperger Jr. (
Lone Star Leaders: Power and Personality in the Texas Congressional Delegation),
L. Michael White (
Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite),
Steven Fenberg (
Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good),
Austin Bay (
Atatürk: Lessons in Leadership from the Greatest General of the Ottoman Empire),
Susan Toomey Frost (
Timeless Mexico: The Photographs of Hugo Brehme),
James W. Pennebaker (
The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say about Us),
Manuel Medrano (
Américo Paredes: In His Own Words, an Authorized Biography), and
Michael O’Brien (
Hard Ground).
Purchased books can be signed by authors in attendance; there will also be coffee and a bake sale. Proceeds benefit the Bastrop Public Library, which took a hit during this summer's wildfires.
The event takes place Saturday, Dec. 10, 10am-1pm, at the historic Byrne-Reed House on the corner of 15th and Rio Grande. See www.humanitiestexas.org for more information.