Best Author / Poet
Louis Sachar
Move over Rick Linklater, step aside Lance Armstrong; Austin's latest hero is Louis Sacher, who wowed the world with his award-winning book Holes, which drove us into a further frenzy of pride when it was released this year as a fantastic movie and chosen by the Mayor's Book Club 2003 as the book for the entire city to read. Kids stopped asking for toys for Christmas and started begging for shovels. OK, that part's an exaggeration. But J.K. Rowling is hardly the only author inspiring kids to read like crazy. Holes is a book that kids turned their parents on to, and parents were glad for the turning. Lucky for us, the quiet yet prolific author has plenty of other offerings, too, including the Wayside School series and the Marvin Redpost series.
