The biggest books party of the year – the Texas Book Festival – just announced its lineup for this year’s festival, which means it’s time to get cracking on getting acquainted with the authors. There aren’t any superstars or political heavyweights this year – according to the fest’s literary director Clay Smith, election years are always thin on big-gun political publications – but there are plenty of authors in the lineup that we’re excited about, like Richard Price (Lush Life, The Wire), EW editor Mark Harris (Pictures at a Revolution), the Paris Review‘s Phillip Gourevitch, and Marion Winik, who, in my book, was one of last year’s most entertaining panelists.
Not on the lineup? Author Curtis Sittenfeld, who last week released (the somewhat uneven but still quite interesting) American Wife, a novel that was openly inspired by the life of Laura Bush. You know, the Laura Bush who founded the Texas Book Festival and continues to serve as Honorary Chairman.
Check out the lineup here, and mark your calendar – the festival runs Nov. 1-2.
This article appears in September 5 • 2008.
