So Fab

The New Fiction Confab has developed a reputation for bringing stellar literary novelists to town to talk it out. This year’s just-announced lineup includes Ben Marcus, Heidi Julavits, Walter Kirn, and Peter Orner.

Sponsored by the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation, the annual event combines readings, Q&As, panel discussions, and workshops in one whirlwind day at the Downtown Faulk Library and other area branches.

Ben Marcus’ latest novel, The Flame Alphabet, was all anybody could talk about when it was released in January – irony, yes, since it was about a disease spread through children’s speech. Heidi Julavits, a founding editor of The Believer magazine, is the author of The Uses of Enchantment and March release The Vanishers. Walter Kirn is well-known for comic novels such as Thumbsucker and Up in the Air; he’ll also be the guest at an upcoming Page 2 Screen event sponsored by the Austin Bat Cave (you can found out about ticket info here). And Peter Orner, author of both fiction and nonfiction books, most recently published Love and Shame and Love, which Daniel Handler called “…epic like Gilgamesh, epic like a guitar solo.”

The New Fiction Confab takes place Saturday, April 21. Events are free and open to the public, but the Confab’s writing workshops – for children, teens, and adults – require preregistration. More details to be found here.