Fine Print
Texas Book Festival brings some of the best and brightest literary minds to the Capitol
By Monica Riese, Fri., Oct. 25, 2013
Suck it, naysayers. The rumors of printed word's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Even after centuries, mankind continues to rearrange movable type into new and staggering works of art. We devour novels, nonfiction, memoirs, biographies, poetry, cookbooks, short stories, and even newspaper articles about all of the above with great gusto, and every now and then, we get to play host to a convocation of spectacular literary minds. This weekend is one of those times.
Now in its 18th year, the Texas Book Festival continues to delight and surprise attendees with extensive – and free! – programming from all corners of the written world. There's something for everyone here, from JFK conspiracy theorists to tiny tots, beach-read bums to the most stoic scholars. This year, you'll also find cross-pollinated panels and events with the Austin Film Festival and Housecore Horror Film Festival, which are both happening simultaneously in our fair city. (For more on those, see "Festival Face-Off.")
So please, let us help you pregame the whole shebang with an appetizer of words about words in the pages that follow (music books coverage starts here), and then keep an eye on austinchronicle.com/texas-book-festival all week for supplemental coverage from the Capitol on everything from cookbooks to fiction.
Books are alive and well, and they're livening up Austin one page at a time. Let them breathe some life into your weekend as well, starting now.
The Texas Book Festival runs Oct. 26-27 at the Texas Capitol. Events are free and open to the public; for the complete schedule, see www.texasbookfestival.org.