Chances are you already have your Halloween plans in order, but have you considered Saturday night yet? If not, the
Texas Book Festival and the
Austin Jewish Book Fair are here to help.
TBF's annual event at the Continental Club is traditionally hipster central – well, book lovin' hipsters, at least. This year, the hot ticket item is the
Paris Review's
Philip Gourevitch conversation with novelist/former
The Wire scripter
Richard Price. (Speaking of, have you heard his Moth piece about racial profiling that was broadcast on
This American Life a couple weeks ago? Based on voice alone, the guy's got a hell of a delivery.)
If you want to avoid the logjam at the Continental Club, you might want to try the Dell Jewish Community Center (7300 Hart Ln.) instead. That's where
Evan Handler (Harry from
Sex and the City) will be holding court, as the
official opening night guest of the Austin Jewish Book Fair. He'll be talking about
It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive, his humorous memoir about battling leukemia in his mid-20s.
Wait, you want more? Okay, how about
Susan Orlean at the Alamo South Lamar? Orlean will be at the Texas Book Festival promoting
her new children's book, but the Alamo event is strictly are R-rated, as she screens
Adaptation, the Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman film loosely adapted from her nonfiction piece
The Orchid Thief. Alamo programmer
Lars Nilsen will conduct a Q&A with Orlean, in which she will presumably share how totally awesome it must be not only have
Meryl Streep play you on the big screen, but to have Meryl Streep playing you tripping balls on orchid dust.
Tickets for Orlean's event can be purchased
here, along with
Sunday's screening at the Ritz of
Bonnie and Clyde (
EW columnist
Mark Harris, who wrote the fascinating critical history
Pictures at a Revolution, had to drop out of the event due to a family emergency). The other two events are free, but we suspect they'll be crowded, so show up early.
Oh, and happy book fest-ing.