Tickets are available to Nov. 18’s inaugural Illumine Awards, handed out by the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation for excellence in literary achievement and advocacy. Now, they’re pricey tickets, mind you, but how else you gonna rub elbows with Austin books haut monde?

The award ceremony – accompanied by drinks, dinner, and a silent auction – takes place Friday, Nov. 18, 7-10pm at the Hilton Downtown Austin (500 E. Fourth St.). Tickets range from $125 for an individual seat to a $5,000 sponsored table. Go here for more info. Alternately, you could call 512-542-0076 or email info@austinlibrary.org.

So who then has the APLFF decided to honor with its very first Illumine Awards? A pretty impressive bunch. See below.

Fiction Honoree: Dagoberto Gilb (Before the End, After the Beginning, Woodcuts of Women)

Presented by: David Garza 


Non-Fiction Honoree: Gregory Curtis (The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World’s First Artists, Texas Monthly editor from 1981-2000)

Presented by: Jake Silverstein


Emerging Author Honoree: Carrie Fountain (poet, Burn Lake)

Presented by: James Magnuson 


Songwriting Honoree: Jimmie Dale Gilmore

Presented by: Ross Ramsey 


Luminary Award (Literary Patron Honoree): Marc Winkelman (part owner of Kirkus Reviews and Tecolote Books in Montecito, Calif.)

Presented by: Joseph Skibell

Emcee: Jake Silverstein, editor of Texas Monthly and author of fiction/nonfiction hybrid Nothing Happened and Then It Did

This article appears in November 4 • 2011.

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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...