Duncan Tonatiuh’s Diego Rivera: His World and Ours tells the story of Diego as a young, mischievous boy who demonstrated a clear passion for art and then went on to become one of the most famous painters in the world. The book won the 2012 Pura Belpré illustration award and the 2012 Tomás Rivera Mexican American children's book award. Tonatiuh was also featured at the 2010 Festival.

Duncan Tonatiuh’s Diego Rivera: His World and Ours tells the story of Diego as a young, mischievous boy who demonstrated a clear passion for art and then went on to become one of the most famous painters in the world. The book won the 2012 Pura Belpré illustration award and the 2012 Tomás Rivera Mexican American children's book award. Tonatiuh was also featured at the 2010 Festival.

Duncan Tonatiuh’s Diego Rivera: His World and Ours tells the story of Diego as a young, mischievous boy who demonstrated a clear passion for art and then went on to become one of the most famous painters in the world. The book won the 2012 Pura Belpré illustration award and the 2012 Tomás Rivera Mexican American children's book award. Tonatiuh was also featured at the 2010 Festival.

Duncan Tonatiuh’s Diego Rivera: His World and Ours tells the story of Diego as a young, mischievous boy who demonstrated a clear passion for art and then went on to become one of the most famous painters in the world. The book won the 2012 Pura Belpré illustration award and the 2012 Tomás Rivera Mexican American children's book award. Tonatiuh was also featured at the 2010 Festival.

This fall, the biggest names and freshest voices in middle-grade lit are touring the country in a competition to win the title of “Best in Class.” Join 3 stellar and hilarious authors for this interactive event, where kids will compete to win their author the coveted title in the Class Act Challenge.

Moderator Topher Bradfield is the Children's Outreach Coordinator for BookPeople, in Austin. For the last five years he has visited classrooms to do book talks and performances from his favorite new books. During the summers, Topher runs BookPeople's Literary camps, recreating the worlds of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Ranger's Apprentice, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Kiki Strike, and Half-Moon Investigations.

In writing American Tapestry, Swarns became a genealogical sleuth, tracking down previously unknown black, white and multiracial ancestors of the First Lady. This well-researched family history illuminates the lives of the exceptional yet ordinary people who make up Mrs. Obama's family tree while also acting as a chronicle of a changing nation. Swarns has been a New York Times reporter since 1995.

Moderator Alberta Phillips is an associate editor at the Austin American-Statesman. Her duties include writing daily editorials and frequent columns. She joined the American-Statesman in 1986, but has been a member of the editorial board since July 2000. She has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has won many prestigious journalism awards over her career. Phillips is a former member of Austin’s Catholic Charities board and the Salvation Army. She currently serves on the Holy Cross Pastoral Council.

In writing American Tapestry, Swarns became a genealogical sleuth, tracking down previously unknown black, white and multiracial ancestors of the First Lady. This well-researched family history illuminates the lives of the exceptional yet ordinary people who make up Mrs. Obama's family tree while also acting as a chronicle of a changing nation. Swarns has been a New York Times reporter since 1995.

Moderator Alberta Phillips is an associate editor at the Austin American-Statesman. Her duties include writing daily editorials and frequent columns. She joined the American-Statesman in 1986, but has been a member of the editorial board since July 2000. She has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has won many prestigious journalism awards over her career. Phillips is a former member of Austin’s Catholic Charities board and the Salvation Army. She currently serves on the Holy Cross Pastoral Council.

Does father always know best? Two Festival novels ask  how far parental love should extend. Panelists Jonathon Evison and Noah Hawley's novels reveal what happens when a father (or father-like figure) has given his all to his son, but it still isn't enough to keep his son out of trouble. In his memoir, Marco Roth's father dies of AIDS from an unknown cause. Roth looks at the same question from the son's point of view: how far should a son go for his father?

Moderator S. Kirk Walsh is a writer based in Austin. Her fiction, essays, and book reviews have been published in Guernica, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe, among several other print and online publications. Walsh is the founder and board president of Austin Bat Cave, a writing and tutoring center for kids. She is at work on a novel.

Mark Twain: The Adventures of Samuel L. Clemens sets readers traveling alongside Twain, absorbing the details of his journeys as he leaves his idyllic boyhood in Hannibal, Mississippi to go west, abroad, and eventually to New England, where the author attempts to exist as a member of the period’s most respected literary circles. Jerome Loving, a Distinguished Professor of English at Texas A&M University, persuades us that although Twain’s humor was “a mere fragrance coming from something eternally relevant to readers in every age,” his value to contemporary readers is greater than just his comedic genius.

Moderator Richard Holland was the founding curator of the Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State University, retiring in 1997. Currently he is a senior lecturer in the Liberal Arts Honors program at the University of Texas, where he teaches courses in American music, the sixties, and Texas culture, if that's not an oxymoron.

Mark Twain: The Adventures of Samuel L. Clemens sets readers traveling alongside Twain, absorbing the details of his journeys as he leaves his idyllic boyhood in Hannibal, Mississippi to go west, abroad, and eventually to New England, where the author attempts to exist as a member of the period’s most respected literary circles. Jerome Loving, a Distinguished Professor of English at Texas A&M University, persuades us that although Twain’s humor was “a mere fragrance coming from something eternally relevant to readers in every age,” his value to contemporary readers is greater than just his comedic genius.

Moderator Richard Holland was the founding curator of the Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State University, retiring in 1997. Currently he is a senior lecturer in the Liberal Arts Honors program at the University of Texas, where he teaches courses in American music, the sixties, and Texas culture, if that's not an oxymoron.

Marcia Clark’s second thriller begins when a near-impossible case falls into Rachel's lap, the suspect-less homicide of a homeless man. As Rachel investigates she's shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier. Something tells Rachel someone knows the truth, someone who'd kill to keep it secret. Harrowing, smart, and riotously entertaining, Guilt by Degrees is a thrilling ride. Clark is a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who was the lead prosecutor on the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Moderator Harry Hunsicker, a Dallas native, is the former Executive Vice President of the Mystery Writers of America and the author of three novels, crime thrillers about a Dallas private investigator named Lee Henry Oswald. In 2006 his debut novel, Still River, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, and in 2010 his short story "Iced" was nominated for a Thriller Award by the International Thriller Writers.

This fall, the biggest names and freshest voices in middle-grade lit are touring the country in a competition to win the title of “Best in Class.” Join 3 stellar and hilarious authors for this interactive event, where kids will compete to win their author the coveted title in the Class Act Challenge.

Moderator Topher Bradfield is the Children's Outreach Coordinator for BookPeople, in Austin. For the last five years he has visited classrooms to do book talks and performances from his favorite new books. During the summers, Topher runs BookPeople's Literary camps, recreating the worlds of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Ranger's Apprentice, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Kiki Strike, and Half-Moon Investigations.

Dayton Duncan chronicles the profound drama of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s in The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, infused with life by mesmerizing photographs and dozens of eyewitness accounts. Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Moderator Helen Thompson is a nationally known writer whose areas of specialty are interior design, architecture, kitchen design and food. Thompson was a food writer and editor for Texas Monthly magazine before joining Metropolitan Home magazine as their Texas editor. She has also written and produced articles for Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, HOME, Veranda, Country Home, and many other magazines. Currently she writes about Texas design on her blog SeenInHouse.com.

Marcia Clark’s second thriller begins when a near-impossible case falls into Rachel's lap, the suspect-less homicide of a homeless man. As Rachel investigates she's shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier. Something tells Rachel someone knows the truth, someone who'd kill to keep it secret. Harrowing, smart, and riotously entertaining, Guilt by Degrees is a thrilling ride. Clark is a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who was the lead prosecutor on the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Moderator Harry Hunsicker, a Dallas native, is the former Executive Vice President of the Mystery Writers of America and the author of three novels, crime thrillers about a Dallas private investigator named Lee Henry Oswald. In 2006 his debut novel, Still River, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, and in 2010 his short story "Iced" was nominated for a Thriller Award by the International Thriller Writers.

Dayton Duncan chronicles the profound drama of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s in The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, infused with life by mesmerizing photographs and dozens of eyewitness accounts. Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Moderator Helen Thompson is a nationally known writer whose areas of specialty are interior design, architecture, kitchen design and food. Thompson was a food writer and editor for Texas Monthly magazine before joining Metropolitan Home magazine as their Texas editor. She has also written and produced articles for Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, HOME, Veranda, Country Home, and many other magazines. Currently she writes about Texas design on her blog SeenInHouse.com.

Focusing on the positions and personalities of Obama and Roberts, Jeffrey Toobin's The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court masterfully and fairly explores the beliefs that drive two of the most powerful men in the world.  Toobin is a bestselling author, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and the senior legal analyst for CNN.

Moderator Mark Updegrove is director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. He is also the author of three books, including Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency.

Dayton Duncan chronicles the profound drama of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s in The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, infused with life by mesmerizing photographs and dozens of eyewitness accounts. Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Moderator Helen Thompson is a nationally known writer whose areas of specialty are interior design, architecture, kitchen design and food. Thompson was a food writer and editor for Texas Monthly magazine before joining Metropolitan Home magazine as their Texas editor. She has also written and produced articles for Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, HOME, Veranda, Country Home, and many other magazines. Currently she writes about Texas design on her blog SeenInHouse.com.

Writers must navigate tricky ground when writing about living people who have a real stake in how they are portrayed in a book. But when a writer is addressing an entire civil rights movement (and is the case in both of the books featured in this session), the stakes are even higher. Join us during this session as Cynthia Levinson and one of the people she's written about, James W. Stewart, and Tomás Rivera Award winner Winifred Conkling and one of her subjects, Sylvia Mendez, talk about their work together.

Moderator Chris Barton is the author of the young adult nonfiction thriller Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities, named a 2012 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers by the Young Adult Library Services Association. He's also the author of the picture book Shark vs. Train, a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller. His first book, The Day-Glo Brothers, received a 2010 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor from the American Library Association.

Gilbert Garcia’s captivating new book, Reagan’s Comeback: Four Weeks in Texas That Changed American Politics Forever, tells the forgotten yet dramatic story of the Texas Republican presidential primary that laid the groundwork for Reagan’s victorious presidential campaign four years later.

Moderator Brian D. Sweany is the deputy editor of Texas Monthly. He is active in a number of civic and volunteer organizations, including serving on the boards of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas and the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas. He lives in Austin with his wife, two children, and an unfinished biography of Charles Goodnight titled The Kingdom of the Saddle, which will be published by Penguin in the fall of 2014.

Heirloom plants belong in Southern gardens. Tough and adapted, tried and true, pretty and useful, these living antiques – passed through countless generations – represent the foundation of traditional gardens as we know them today. William C. Welch and Chris Wiesinger team for this panel on Southern gardening. For those tired of high-maintenance and short-lived plants, Chris Wiesinger, author of Heirloom Bulbs for Today, shares his knowledge of versatile, sustainable, and low-maintenance bulbs.William C. Welch’s Heirloom Gardening in the South is a comprehensive resource that also offers a captivating, personal encounter with two dedicated and passionate gardeners whose love of heritage gardening infuses the work from beginning to end.

Moderator Nettie Hartsock is a writer and online publicist. She has been published in Hysteria, Rio Review, Per Contra, and other places. Her twitter is @nettiehartsock and her site is www.nettiehartsock.com.

The new novels by the writers listed below are set in the present, past, and future, but they all feature writers - or are direct references to those writers' works - who lived long ago. Poe, The Scarlet Letter, Lord Byron, and William Blake make appearances in Mat Johnson, Hillary Jordan, and David Liss' novels - they'll be in conversation during this session about why wrestling with classic literature makes their novels come alive.

The author of four critically acclaimed novels and an award-winning non-fiction book, moderator Carol Dawson has written for a number of national and local publications. In addition to teaching creative writing, she is also a painter whose work has been featured in major art magazines and is represented by several galleries across the country. Her latest book is an historical novel set in late seventeenth century Massachusetts.

There are days when life feels like it's on autopilot. How often do revelations occur in the typical life, anyway? When they happen in a novel, how does a writer keep the near-miraculous event from not seeming unreal or melodramatic? Two novels published this year feature protagonists whose lives take sudden new turns - chances to let go of bitterness and remorse and even find love - late in life.

Moderator Lora Livingston is a founder of an eclectic Austin book club that recently celebrated its twenty-second anniversary. She enjoys the outdoors and loves to read. She prefers fiction to non-fiction to escape the harsh realities of her work as a state trial judge.

 

Dayton Duncan chronicles the profound drama of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s in The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, infused with life by mesmerizing photographs and dozens of eyewitness accounts. Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Moderator Helen Thompson is a nationally known writer whose areas of specialty are interior design, architecture, kitchen design and food. Thompson was a food writer and editor for Texas Monthly magazine before joining Metropolitan Home magazine as their Texas editor. She has also written and produced articles for Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, HOME, Veranda, Country Home, and many other magazines. Currently she writes about Texas design on her blog SeenInHouse.com.

In writing American Tapestry, Swarns became a genealogical sleuth, tracking down previously unknown black, white and multiracial ancestors of the First Lady. This well-researched family history illuminates the lives of the exceptional yet ordinary people who make up Mrs. Obama's family tree while also acting as a chronicle of a changing nation. Swarns has been a New York Times reporter since 1995.

Moderator Alberta Phillips is an associate editor at the Austin American-Statesman. Her duties include writing daily editorials and frequent columns. She joined the American-Statesman in 1986, but has been a member of the editorial board since July 2000. She has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has won many prestigious journalism awards over her career. Phillips is a former member of Austin’s Catholic Charities board and the Salvation Army. She currently serves on the Holy Cross Pastoral Council.

Dayton Duncan chronicles the profound drama of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s in The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, infused with life by mesmerizing photographs and dozens of eyewitness accounts. Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Moderator Helen Thompson is a nationally known writer whose areas of specialty are interior design, architecture, kitchen design and food. Thompson was a food writer and editor for Texas Monthly magazine before joining Metropolitan Home magazine as their Texas editor. She has also written and produced articles for Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, HOME, Veranda, Country Home, and many other magazines. Currently she writes about Texas design on her blog SeenInHouse.com.

This fall, the biggest names and freshest voices in middle-grade lit are touring the country in a competition to win the title of “Best in Class.” Join 3 stellar and hilarious authors for this interactive event, where kids will compete to win their author the coveted title in the Class Act Challenge.

Moderator Topher Bradfield is the Children's Outreach Coordinator for BookPeople, in Austin. For the last five years he has visited classrooms to do book talks and performances from his favorite new books. During the summers, Topher runs BookPeople's Literary camps, recreating the worlds of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Ranger's Apprentice, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Kiki Strike, and Half-Moon Investigations.

The Llano Estacado has always required (and appealed to) discerning eyes. Look at the Llano, the legendary "staked plains," with eyes open to possibility, and you will encounter the unexpected. Since the late 1970's, Rick Dingus' photographs, which are featured in Llano Estacado, have been included in collections such as the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Bibliotheque Nationale, Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

 

Moderator Andy Wilkinson is also featured in Llano Estacado. He is a poet, song writer, singer, and playwright whose particular interest is the history and peoples of the Great Plains. Wilkinson is Artist in Residence at the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University and visiting assistant professor in the School of Music.

There are days when life feels like it's on autopilot. How often do revelations occur in the typical life, anyway? When they happen in a novel, how does a writer keep the near-miraculous event from not seeming unreal or melodramatic? Two novels published this year feature protagonists whose lives take sudden new turns - chances to let go of bitterness and remorse and even find love - late in life.

Moderator Lora Livingston is a founder of an eclectic Austin book club that recently celebrated its twenty-second anniversary. She enjoys the outdoors and loves to read. She prefers fiction to non-fiction to escape the harsh realities of her work as a state trial judge.

 

Writers must navigate tricky ground when writing about living people who have a real stake in how they are portrayed in a book. But when a writer is addressing an entire civil rights movement (and is the case in both of the books featured in this session), the stakes are even higher. Join us during this session as Cynthia Levinson and one of the people she's written about, James W. Stewart, and Tomás Rivera Award winner Winifred Conkling and one of her subjects, Sylvia Mendez, talk about their work together.

Moderator Chris Barton is the author of the young adult nonfiction thriller Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities, named a 2012 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers by the Young Adult Library Services Association. He's also the author of the picture book Shark vs. Train, a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller. His first book, The Day-Glo Brothers, received a 2010 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor from the American Library Association.

Writers must navigate tricky ground when writing about living people who have a real stake in how they are portrayed in a book. But when a writer is addressing an entire civil rights movement (and is the case in both of the books featured in this session), the stakes are even higher. Join us during this session as Cynthia Levinson and one of the people she's written about, James W. Stewart, and Tomás Rivera Award winner Winifred Conkling and one of her subjects, Sylvia Mendez, talk about their work together.

Moderator Chris Barton is the author of the young adult nonfiction thriller Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities, named a 2012 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers by the Young Adult Library Services Association. He's also the author of the picture book Shark vs. Train, a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller. His first book, The Day-Glo Brothers, received a 2010 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor from the American Library Association.

Focusing on the positions and personalities of Obama and Roberts, Jeffrey Toobin's The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court masterfully and fairly explores the beliefs that drive two of the most powerful men in the world.  Toobin is a bestselling author, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and the senior legal analyst for CNN.

Moderator Mark Updegrove is director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. He is also the author of three books, including Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency.

Focusing on the positions and personalities of Obama and Roberts, Jeffrey Toobin's The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court masterfully and fairly explores the beliefs that drive two of the most powerful men in the world.  Toobin is a bestselling author, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and the senior legal analyst for CNN.

Moderator Mark Updegrove is director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. He is also the author of three books, including Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency.

The new novels by the writers listed below are set in the present, past, and future, but they all feature writers - or are direct references to those writers' works - who lived long ago. Poe, The Scarlet Letter, Lord Byron, and William Blake make appearances in Mat Johnson, Hillary Jordan, and David Liss' novels - they'll be in conversation during this session about why wrestling with classic literature makes their novels come alive.

The author of four critically acclaimed novels and an award-winning non-fiction book, moderator Carol Dawson has written for a number of national and local publications. In addition to teaching creative writing, she is also a painter whose work has been featured in major art magazines and is represented by several galleries across the country. Her latest book is an historical novel set in late seventeenth century Massachusetts.

The Llano Estacado has always required (and appealed to) discerning eyes. Look at the Llano, the legendary "staked plains," with eyes open to possibility, and you will encounter the unexpected. Since the late 1970's, Rick Dingus' photographs, which are featured in Llano Estacado, have been included in collections such as the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Bibliotheque Nationale, Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

 

Moderator Andy Wilkinson is also featured in Llano Estacado. He is a poet, song writer, singer, and playwright whose particular interest is the history and peoples of the Great Plains. Wilkinson is Artist in Residence at the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University and visiting assistant professor in the School of Music.

Dayton Duncan chronicles the profound drama of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s in The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, infused with life by mesmerizing photographs and dozens of eyewitness accounts. Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Moderator Helen Thompson is a nationally known writer whose areas of specialty are interior design, architecture, kitchen design and food. Thompson was a food writer and editor for Texas Monthly magazine before joining Metropolitan Home magazine as their Texas editor. She has also written and produced articles for Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, HOME, Veranda, Country Home, and many other magazines. Currently she writes about Texas design on her blog SeenInHouse.com.

Marcia Clark’s second thriller begins when a near-impossible case falls into Rachel's lap, the suspect-less homicide of a homeless man. As Rachel investigates she's shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier. Something tells Rachel someone knows the truth, someone who'd kill to keep it secret. Harrowing, smart, and riotously entertaining, Guilt by Degrees is a thrilling ride. Clark is a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who was the lead prosecutor on the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Moderator Harry Hunsicker, a Dallas native, is the former Executive Vice President of the Mystery Writers of America and the author of three novels, crime thrillers about a Dallas private investigator named Lee Henry Oswald. In 2006 his debut novel, Still River, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, and in 2010 his short story "Iced" was nominated for a Thriller Award by the International Thriller Writers.

The new novels by the writers listed below are set in the present, past, and future, but they all feature writers - or are direct references to those writers' works - who lived long ago. Poe, The Scarlet Letter, Lord Byron, and William Blake make appearances in Mat Johnson, Hillary Jordan, and David Liss' novels - they'll be in conversation during this session about why wrestling with classic literature makes their novels come alive.

The author of four critically acclaimed novels and an award-winning non-fiction book, moderator Carol Dawson has written for a number of national and local publications. In addition to teaching creative writing, she is also a painter whose work has been featured in major art magazines and is represented by several galleries across the country. Her latest book is an historical novel set in late seventeenth century Massachusetts.

There are days when life feels like it's on autopilot. How often do revelations occur in the typical life, anyway? When they happen in a novel, how does a writer keep the near-miraculous event from not seeming unreal or melodramatic? Two novels published this year feature protagonists whose lives take sudden new turns - chances to let go of bitterness and remorse and even find love - late in life.

Moderator Lora Livingston is a founder of an eclectic Austin book club that recently celebrated its twenty-second anniversary. She enjoys the outdoors and loves to read. She prefers fiction to non-fiction to escape the harsh realities of her work as a state trial judge.

 

Dayton Duncan chronicles the profound drama of the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s in The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, infused with life by mesmerizing photographs and dozens of eyewitness accounts. Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker and author of numerous bestsellers, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Moderator Helen Thompson is a nationally known writer whose areas of specialty are interior design, architecture, kitchen design and food. Thompson was a food writer and editor for Texas Monthly magazine before joining Metropolitan Home magazine as their Texas editor. She has also written and produced articles for Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, Western Interiors, Traditional Home, HOME, Veranda, Country Home, and many other magazines. Currently she writes about Texas design on her blog SeenInHouse.com.

Heirloom plants belong in Southern gardens. Tough and adapted, tried and true, pretty and useful, these living antiques – passed through countless generations – represent the foundation of traditional gardens as we know them today. William C. Welch and Chris Wiesinger team for this panel on Southern gardening. For those tired of high-maintenance and short-lived plants, Chris Wiesinger, author of Heirloom Bulbs for Today, shares his knowledge of versatile, sustainable, and low-maintenance bulbs.William C. Welch’s Heirloom Gardening in the South is a comprehensive resource that also offers a captivating, personal encounter with two dedicated and passionate gardeners whose love of heritage gardening infuses the work from beginning to end.

Moderator Nettie Hartsock is a writer and online publicist. She has been published in Hysteria, Rio Review, Per Contra, and other places. Her twitter is @nettiehartsock and her site is www.nettiehartsock.com.

There are days when life feels like it's on autopilot. How often do revelations occur in the typical life, anyway? When they happen in a novel, how does a writer keep the near-miraculous event from not seeming unreal or melodramatic? Two novels published this year feature protagonists whose lives take sudden new turns - chances to let go of bitterness and remorse and even find love - late in life.

Moderator Lora Livingston is a founder of an eclectic Austin book club that recently celebrated its twenty-second anniversary. She enjoys the outdoors and loves to read. She prefers fiction to non-fiction to escape the harsh realities of her work as a state trial judge.

 

The English folk group Bucolics Anonymous will release their debut CD, "Weathers," at the festival. The music is a mixture of the English folk music that Victorian English writer Thomas Hardy was so fond of, along with original music by local composer Speckled Sussex. Local poet Thom Moon 9 will be reading Hardy's poems.

Southern cuisine is always moving forward, but Hugh Acheson and Martha Hall Foose's 2011 cookbooks - A New Turn in the South, by Acheson, and A Southerly Course, by Foose - are vibrant explorations of both what's essential to Southern food and how it can be advanced. Watch the two of them demo recipes from their cookbooks during this session.

Austin Dog Alliance is a nonprofit organization with a mission to improve the health and well-being of individuals and families through programs incorporating the powerful connection between humans and dogs. Bow Wow Reading Dogs is Austin Dog Alliance’s program designed to help below grade level readers improve their skills. The program improves children’s reading and communication skills by employing a powerful method: reading to a dog. But not just any dog! Bow Wow Reading dogs are registered therapy animals who volunteer with their owners/handlers as a team, going to schools, libraries and many other settings as reading companions for children. Austin Dog Alliance’s Bow Wow Reading Dog Program provides pet therapy teams to local schools and libraries. Austin Dog Alliance’s various handler-dog teams also visit local hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes.

Southern cuisine is always moving forward, but Hugh Acheson and Martha Hall Foose's 2011 cookbooks - A New Turn in the South, by Acheson, and A Southerly Course, by Foose - are vibrant explorations of both what's essential to Southern food and how it can be advanced. Watch the two of them demo recipes from their cookbooks during this session.

Austin Dog Alliance is a nonprofit organization with a mission to improve the health and well-being of individuals and families through programs incorporating the powerful connection between humans and dogs. Bow Wow Reading Dogs is Austin Dog Alliance’s program designed to help below grade level readers improve their skills. The program improves children’s reading and communication skills by employing a powerful method: reading to a dog. But not just any dog! Bow Wow Reading dogs are registered therapy animals who volunteer with their owners/handlers as a team, going to schools, libraries and many other settings as reading companions for children. Austin Dog Alliance’s Bow Wow Reading Dog Program provides pet therapy teams to local schools and libraries. Austin Dog Alliance’s various handler-dog teams also visit local hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes.

In Dinosaur vs. Santa, will dinosaur do the thing that no dinosaur should ever do and actually sneak downstairs to spy on Santa? Author-illustrator Bob Shea presents a fun and imaginative take on the Christmas season. Shea has appeared at the Festival in the past for his Dinosaur series. Shea has created graphics and animations for PBS Kids,  written stories for Nick Jr. and owns Perfectly Nice design studio.

In Dinosaur vs. Santa, will dinosaur do the thing that no dinosaur should ever do and actually sneak downstairs to spy on Santa? Author-illustrator Bob Shea presents a fun and imaginative take on the Christmas season. Shea has appeared at the Festival in the past for his Dinosaur series. Shea has created graphics and animations for PBS Kids,  written stories for Nick Jr. and owns Perfectly Nice design studio.

After moving to a humble cottage outside of a tiny Texas town, Monroe rids herself of an abusive husband, battles sexist contractors and workers as she renovates her home, and finally, after several disheartening let-downs, is able to adopt her beautiful baby daughter, Marie. Though elated at the fruition of her dream finally coming true, Monroe faces trials that befall her as not just as single mother, but as a white mother of a black child. Monroe is the author of two collections of stories and two novels. She teaches in the MFA program at Texas State University and lives in Austin with Marie.

All adolescent girls keep secrets from the people in their lives. But the secrets these girls keep are too huge - and potentially disastrous -  to stay hidden for long. In Paradise, new author Jill Alexander introduces Paisley Tiller, a girl with a secret dream of becoming a musician and escaping her rural life. Rosemary Clement-Moore, whose book The Splendor Falls was featured in the 2009 Festival, discusses secret-witch Amy Goodnight and her not-so-secret crush on the boy next door in her new book Texas Gothic. And Jennifer Ziegler, the author of How Not To Be Popular, brings double the secrets with a pair of sisters in Sass & Serendipity.

Moderator Margo Rabb is the author of Cures for Heartbreak, which received four starred reviews, won the Teddy Book Award, and was named one of the best YA books of the year by Kirkus and Booklist. Her fiction and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Zoetrope, Seventeen, One Story, Best New American Voices, and elsewhere, and have been broadcast on National Public Radio. Her new YA novel will be published by Random House in 2012.

All adolescent girls keep secrets from the people in their lives. But the secrets these girls keep are too huge - and potentially disastrous -  to stay hidden for long. In Paradise, new author Jill Alexander introduces Paisley Tiller, a girl with a secret dream of becoming a musician and escaping her rural life. Rosemary Clement-Moore, whose book The Splendor Falls was featured in the 2009 Festival, discusses secret-witch Amy Goodnight and her not-so-secret crush on the boy next door in her new book Texas Gothic. And Jennifer Ziegler, the author of How Not To Be Popular, brings double the secrets with a pair of sisters in Sass & Serendipity.

Moderator Margo Rabb is the author of Cures for Heartbreak, which received four starred reviews, won the Teddy Book Award, and was named one of the best YA books of the year by Kirkus and Booklist. Her fiction and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Zoetrope, Seventeen, One Story, Best New American Voices, and elsewhere, and have been broadcast on National Public Radio. Her new YA novel will be published by Random House in 2012.

Attica Locke brings us the tale of Caren Gray, manager of Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rougeand New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. A greedy corporation, a strange murder, and interwoven threads of a puzzle reaching back into the distant past take the stage in this novel which is at once a thoughtful meditation on how America reckons its past with its future, and a high-octane page-turner that unfolds with tremendous skill and vision.

Moderator Hopeton Hay is the host and producer of the weekly author interview show "KAZI Book Review" which comes on Sundays, 12:30– 1pm on KAZI 88.7 FM in Austin. A former news reporter for KPFT radio station in Houston, he is also the host and producer of the weekly talk show "Economic Perspectives" on KAZI.

Attica Locke brings us the tale of Caren Gray, manager of Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rougeand New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. A greedy corporation, a strange murder, and interwoven threads of a puzzle reaching back into the distant past take the stage in this novel which is at once a thoughtful meditation on how America reckons its past with its future, and a high-octane page-turner that unfolds with tremendous skill and vision.

Moderator Hopeton Hay is the host and producer of the weekly author interview show "KAZI Book Review" which comes on Sundays, 12:30– 1pm on KAZI 88.7 FM in Austin. A former news reporter for KPFT radio station in Houston, he is also the host and producer of the weekly talk show "Economic Perspectives" on KAZI.

All adolescent girls keep secrets from the people in their lives. But the secrets these girls keep are too huge - and potentially disastrous -  to stay hidden for long. In Paradise, new author Jill Alexander introduces Paisley Tiller, a girl with a secret dream of becoming a musician and escaping her rural life. Rosemary Clement-Moore, whose book The Splendor Falls was featured in the 2009 Festival, discusses secret-witch Amy Goodnight and her not-so-secret crush on the boy next door in her new book Texas Gothic. And Jennifer Ziegler, the author of How Not To Be Popular, brings double the secrets with a pair of sisters in Sass & Serendipity.

Moderator Margo Rabb is the author of Cures for Heartbreak, which received four starred reviews, won the Teddy Book Award, and was named one of the best YA books of the year by Kirkus and Booklist. Her fiction and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Zoetrope, Seventeen, One Story, Best New American Voices, and elsewhere, and have been broadcast on National Public Radio. Her new YA novel will be published by Random House in 2012.

From stark, arid land, writer Mary Irish has created beauty. Irish has spent a lifetime experimenting in her Arizona garden and passing on the knowledge she's pulled from the ground. Gary Nabhan was originally scheduled for this event but he has had to cancel his Festival appearance, unfortunately.

Moderator Marcia Hatfield Daudistel is the editor, most recently of Grace and Gumption: The Women of El Paso and Literary El Paso, winner of the 2010 Border Regional Library Association Southwest Book Award. Daudistel is the West Texas/Trans Pecos Editor of Texas Books in Review. She is currently at work with award winning writer and photographer Bill Wright on Authentic Texas: The People of the Big Bend. She has made El Paso her home for 26 years.

From stark, arid land, writer Mary Irish has created beauty. Irish has spent a lifetime experimenting in her Arizona garden and passing on the knowledge she's pulled from the ground. Gary Nabhan was originally scheduled for this event but he has had to cancel his Festival appearance, unfortunately.

Moderator Marcia Hatfield Daudistel is the editor, most recently of Grace and Gumption: The Women of El Paso and Literary El Paso, winner of the 2010 Border Regional Library Association Southwest Book Award. Daudistel is the West Texas/Trans Pecos Editor of Texas Books in Review. She is currently at work with award winning writer and photographer Bill Wright on Authentic Texas: The People of the Big Bend. She has made El Paso her home for 26 years.

Attica Locke brings us the tale of Caren Gray, manager of Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rougeand New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. A greedy corporation, a strange murder, and interwoven threads of a puzzle reaching back into the distant past take the stage in this novel which is at once a thoughtful meditation on how America reckons its past with its future, and a high-octane page-turner that unfolds with tremendous skill and vision.

Moderator Hopeton Hay is the host and producer of the weekly author interview show "KAZI Book Review" which comes on Sundays, 12:30– 1pm on KAZI 88.7 FM in Austin. A former news reporter for KPFT radio station in Houston, he is also the host and producer of the weekly talk show "Economic Perspectives" on KAZI.

When Lucy, a young bear, discovers a boy in the woods, she's absolutely delighted. She brings him home and begs her mom to let her keep him, even though her mom warns that "children make terrible pets” in Peter Brown’s charming new picture book Children Make Terrible Pets. Peter Brown's books, including Chowder, have been adapted into plays and animated short films, they have been translated into a dozen languages, and they include the 2010 E.B. White award winner, Children's Choice Award winner, and New York Times bestselling book The Curious Garden.

In Nightsong, Chiro the bat's sensible mother has some wise advice: to use his good sense. "Sense is the song you sing into the world, and the song the world sings back to you," she says. "Sing, and the world will answer. That is how you’ll see." Long is a two-time Golden Kite award winner and New York Times #1 bestselling illustrator who has illustrated many notable books, including Barack Obama’s Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters and The Little Engine That Could, which reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. 

In his previous books, New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz introduced us to the delightful menagerie at Bedlam Farm, including Izzy, the unforgettable border collie rescue. Now, in Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me, Katz delves deeper into his connection with the beautiful, once-abandoned dog, learning yet again about the unexpected places animals can take us. 

Humorous and deeply moving, Izzy & Lenore is a story of a man confronting his past, embracing the blessings of his current life, and rediscovering the meaning of friendship, family, and faith.

Introducer Laura Castro is the director of media relations at the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a lecturer in UT's School of Journalism and a board member of the Writers' League of Texas.  

In The Other Barack: The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama's Father, Sally Jacobs paints an intimate portrait of a man whose life spanned two continents and four marriages, who sired the forty-fourth President of the United States, and who - until now - has remained largely unknown. Of course, considering Jacob's impeccably well-researched and intriguing read, it definitely won't stay that way for long. Sally H. Jacobs lives in Boston. She has been a reporter for over three decades, most recently with The Boston Globe. This is her first book.

Moderator Mark K. Updegrove became the fourth director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in October 2009. He is the author of Baptism by Fire: Eight Presidents Who Took Office in Times of Crisis (2009) and Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House (2006). His third book, an oral history of the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, yet untitled, will be published by Crown in March 2012.

Novelist Gerald Duff grew up both in Polk County, in Deep East Texas, and in Nederland, near the Gulf Coast, two drastically different areas in terms of social and economic status. These communities shaped the way Duff thought and lived, causing him to build up certain false personae to fit in with the crowd. These changes and more are described within the pages of Duff’s new memoir, Home Truths: A Deep East Texas Memory.

Moderator Clay Nichols is the co-author of the DadLabs Guide to Fatherhood, Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts, and over a dozen plays that have been produced nationwide. He is co-counder and Chief Creative Officer at DadLabs.com, an online resource for fathers. He lives in Austin with his wife Kim and three kids: Wilson (13), Riley (10), and Cooper (7).

Replete with an astonishing assemblage of facts, illustrations, maps, charts, threats, blood, and additional fees to edify even the most simple-minded book-buyer, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge is packed with valuable information - such as the life stages of an Aunt; places to kill one's self in Utica, New York; and the dimensions of a female bucket, or "pail."Two Onion writers will be talking about The Onion Book of Known Knowledge during this event.

Moderator Cindy Widner is a writer and editor living in Austin. Her work has appeared in The Austin Chronicle, Bitch magazine, Pop Culture Press, and other publications.

Terry Allen is the first comprehensive retrospective of this prolific artist's work. More than 200 color and black-and-white images flow in and around the texts, providing a sweeping visual gallery of Allen's work in which, as Dave Hickey observes, "not only are there no happy endings. There are no endings.” Allen is a visual artist and songwriter who has received numerous awards and honors, including Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and induction into the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame. His art has been shown throughout the United States and Europe and is represented in major private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Los Angeles.

Moderator Katy Vine is a Senior Editor at Texas Monthly magazine, where she has been on staff since 1997. Her work has appeared in The Best American Sports Writing 2005, The Best American Sports Writing 2006, The Oxford American, The Texas Observer, and on the radio program, “This American Life.”

Andy Coolquitt lets us in on the process and inspiration behind his artwork, made of the refuse and neglected objects he scavenges from the streets. Coolquitt lives, works, and hosts events on the East Side of Austin, and since his 2008 solo exhibition "iight" in New York City, his work has gained a wide national and international audience.

Moderator Jeanne Claire van Ryzin is the arts critic for the Austin American-Statesman, where she has been on staff since 1999. Her work has appeared in Architecture, Art Papers, The New York Times, and The Review of Contemporary Fiction, among other publications. Among other commendations, she has won top awards for arts criticism from the Society for Features Journalism and the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors.

Take Mr. Suzuki's wonderful violin program, add "Sweet" Mary Hattersley and a variety of Texas fiddle music and the result is a wonderful violin and fiddle program where students four and up can learn the joys of both classical violin and fiddling - all while delighting audiences and learning a bit of music history in the process. Blazing Bows has appeared at the book festival before, playing for Lady Bird Johnson at a Texas Book Festival event held a few years ago at the LBJ Ranch.

New York Times bestselling author, Philippa Gregory, has given life to the story of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, a woman who navigated a treacherous path through the battle lines in the Wars of the Roses. Gregory uses original documents, archaeology, and histories of myth and witchcraft to create the first-ever biography of the young duchess who survived two reigns and two wars to become the first lady at two rival courts. Gregory is the bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl and the Wideacre trilogy.

Moderator Laura Castro is a visiting scholar at the University of Texas Law School and writing a biography of Ramsey Clark. She is also on the board of the Writers' League of Texas.   

Families in crisis, torn apart by tragedy, and plagued by trauma, are rarely this funny. Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette? is a comic novel about a 15 year old girl hunting for her runaway mother. Jami Attenberg's The Middlesteins is about a struggling, Jewish family dealing with the fallout of their matriarch's food obsession. And Elizabeth Crane's We Only Know so Much is about a large extended family living in the same house, and pushing the bounds of normalcy. These dry, witty novels feature families moving in different directions and trying above all to hold themselves together.

Moderator Gregory Cowles is an editor at The New York Times Book Review, where he specializes in fiction and literary nonfiction and writes a weekly column about the best-seller list. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.

We’re here to celebrate the wasp-covered woman in the garage, the thoughts and happenings manifesting themselves in floating words and doorways, and the pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. The writers in conversation during this session are creative, edgy thinkers whose books, in various degrees of surreality, invite us to think about the world in a new way.

Moderator Manuel Gonzales, a graduate of the Columbia University creative writing program, lives in Austin. He has published fiction and nonfiction in Open City, Fence, One Story, Esquire, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and The Believer. He is currently the executive director of Austin Bat cave. His collection The Miniature Wife and Other Stories will be released by Riverhead Books in January 2013. He lives with his wife and two children.

 

We’re here to celebrate the wasp-covered woman in the garage, the thoughts and happenings manifesting themselves in floating words and doorways, and the pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. The writers in conversation during this session are creative, edgy thinkers whose books, in various degrees of surreality, invite us to think about the world in a new way.

Moderator Manuel Gonzales, a graduate of the Columbia University creative writing program, lives in Austin. He has published fiction and nonfiction in Open City, Fence, One Story, Esquire, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and The Believer. He is currently the executive director of Austin Bat cave. His collection The Miniature Wife and Other Stories will be released by Riverhead Books in January 2013. He lives with his wife and two children.

 

In Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain, Jim Lehrer gives readers a ringside seat for some of the most epic political battles of our time. Lehrer is the author of 20 novels, two memoirs, and three plays, and for years was the executive editor and anchor of The NewsHour on PBS.

Moderator Dave Shaw is president of Arsenal, a full-service advertising and PR firm based in Austin, Texas.  He has a broad range of marketing and communications experience that spans advertising, branding, public relations, and public affairs work with major brands and Fortune 500 companies. In the community, Dave currently serves as immediate past chair of Greenlights for NonProfit Success, as a director for Texas Lyceum and as a member of the University of Texas College of Communication Alumni Advisory Council. Dave earned his M.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

While staples of Southern foodways are often portrayed as stable and unchanging – the stories of their origins generally focused on elite whites or poor blacks – Elizabeth S.D. Engelhardt uses methods of food culture and gender studies to reveal their troubling complexities. An associate professor of American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, Engelhardt was lead author of Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket.

Moderator Marla Camp is an award-winning journalist, artist and local food enthusiast. As owner and publisher of Edible Austin, she connects readers to the food culture and producers in Central Texas. Edible Austin is a member of Edible Communities, recipients of the James Beard Foundation 2011 Publication of the Year award.

 

Do you have a hobby that you love enough to share with the world? Meg Wolitzer declares her passion for scrabble in her gradeschool book The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, in which three unique kids come together at a Youth Scrabble Tournament. And in his book The Cardturner, Sachar displays his flare for bridge with a heartwarming story about a lonely boy and his bridge-playing uncle. Listen to the authors discuss their favorite hobbies and you might just leave with a new hobby of your own.

We’re here to celebrate the wasp-covered woman in the garage, the thoughts and happenings manifesting themselves in floating words and doorways, and the pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. The writers in conversation during this session are creative, edgy thinkers whose books, in various degrees of surreality, invite us to think about the world in a new way.

Moderator Manuel Gonzales, a graduate of the Columbia University creative writing program, lives in Austin. He has published fiction and nonfiction in Open City, Fence, One Story, Esquire, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and The Believer. He is currently the executive director of Austin Bat cave. His collection The Miniature Wife and Other Stories will be released by Riverhead Books in January 2013. He lives with his wife and two children.

 

Do you have a hobby that you love enough to share with the world? Meg Wolitzer declares her passion for scrabble in her gradeschool book The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, in which three unique kids come together at a Youth Scrabble Tournament. And in his book The Cardturner, Sachar displays his flare for bridge with a heartwarming story about a lonely boy and his bridge-playing uncle. Listen to the authors discuss their favorite hobbies and you might just leave with a new hobby of your own.

Do you have a hobby that you love enough to share with the world? Meg Wolitzer declares her passion for scrabble in her gradeschool book The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, in which three unique kids come together at a Youth Scrabble Tournament. And in his book The Cardturner, Sachar displays his flare for bridge with a heartwarming story about a lonely boy and his bridge-playing uncle. Listen to the authors discuss their favorite hobbies and you might just leave with a new hobby of your own.

Ready for another adventure with our friends Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger? Jacqueline Kelly's sequel to the classic The Wind in the Willows continues the wild antics of these four beloved characters, written in a voice that masterfully emulates the original.

Author Anne Bustard is a former children's bookseller and teacher, avid listmaker, and fan of Kailua Beach.

Ready for another adventure with our friends Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger? Jacqueline Kelly's sequel to the classic The Wind in the Willows continues the wild antics of these four beloved characters, written in a voice that masterfully emulates the original.

Author Anne Bustard is a former children's bookseller and teacher, avid listmaker, and fan of Kailua Beach.

Do you have a hobby that you love enough to share with the world? Meg Wolitzer declares her passion for scrabble in her gradeschool book The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, in which three unique kids come together at a Youth Scrabble Tournament. And in his book The Cardturner, Sachar displays his flare for bridge with a heartwarming story about a lonely boy and his bridge-playing uncle. Listen to the authors discuss their favorite hobbies and you might just leave with a new hobby of your own.

Ready for another adventure with our friends Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger? Jacqueline Kelly's sequel to the classic The Wind in the Willows continues the wild antics of these four beloved characters, written in a voice that masterfully emulates the original.

Author Anne Bustard is a former children's bookseller and teacher, avid listmaker, and fan of Kailua Beach.

On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, in a vacant lot in Tombstone, Arizona, a confrontation between eight armed men erupted that would shape how future generations came to view the old West. As Jeff Guinn's The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral– And How It Changed the American West makes clear, the real story of the O.K. Corral and the West is far different from what we’ve been led to believe by countless TV Westerns and Hollywood films.

Widely recognized as an expert in environmental and natural resources law and policy, moderator David P. Smith recently returned to Texas – and private practice – after more than a decade in public service in both Austin and Washington, D.C. Most recently, Mr. Smith served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior and Counselor for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, where he developed and oversaw implementation of policies for both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. In this capacity, he was a member of the Secretary of the Interior’s senior management team, working with political and career leadership across the Department of the Interior, the White House, Congress, and other federal agencies.

Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson speaks about crazy families, her unrealized dream of "fitting in," and taking dark situations with a grain of humour in her memoir Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened reached number one on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Moderator Donna M. Johnson is the author of Holy Ghost Girl, an award winning memoir critically acclaimed by The New York Times, O Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Texas Monthly, and other publications. She escaped the family cult at seventeen to become a writer. She lives in Austin with her husband, the poet and author Kirk Wilson.

Families in crisis, torn apart by tragedy, and plagued by trauma, are rarely this funny. Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette? is a comic novel about a 15 year old girl hunting for her runaway mother. Jami Attenberg's The Middlesteins is about a struggling, Jewish family dealing with the fallout of their matriarch's food obsession. And Elizabeth Crane's We Only Know so Much is about a large extended family living in the same house, and pushing the bounds of normalcy. These dry, witty novels feature families moving in different directions and trying above all to hold themselves together.

Moderator Gregory Cowles is an editor at The New York Times Book Review, where he specializes in fiction and literary nonfiction and writes a weekly column about the best-seller list. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.

Families in crisis, torn apart by tragedy, and plagued by trauma, are rarely this funny. Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette? is a comic novel about a 15 year old girl hunting for her runaway mother. Jami Attenberg's The Middlesteins is about a struggling, Jewish family dealing with the fallout of their matriarch's food obsession. And Elizabeth Crane's We Only Know so Much is about a large extended family living in the same house, and pushing the bounds of normalcy. These dry, witty novels feature families moving in different directions and trying above all to hold themselves together.

Moderator Gregory Cowles is an editor at The New York Times Book Review, where he specializes in fiction and literary nonfiction and writes a weekly column about the best-seller list. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.

We’re here to celebrate the wasp-covered woman in the garage, the thoughts and happenings manifesting themselves in floating words and doorways, and the pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. The writers in conversation during this session are creative, edgy thinkers whose books, in various degrees of surreality, invite us to think about the world in a new way.

Moderator Manuel Gonzales, a graduate of the Columbia University creative writing program, lives in Austin. He has published fiction and nonfiction in Open City, Fence, One Story, Esquire, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and The Believer. He is currently the executive director of Austin Bat cave. His collection The Miniature Wife and Other Stories will be released by Riverhead Books in January 2013. He lives with his wife and two children.

 

Ready for another adventure with our friends Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger? Jacqueline Kelly's sequel to the classic The Wind in the Willows continues the wild antics of these four beloved characters, written in a voice that masterfully emulates the original.

Author Anne Bustard is a former children's bookseller and teacher, avid listmaker, and fan of Kailua Beach.

Ready for another adventure with our friends Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger? Jacqueline Kelly's sequel to the classic The Wind in the Willows continues the wild antics of these four beloved characters, written in a voice that masterfully emulates the original.

Author Anne Bustard is a former children's bookseller and teacher, avid listmaker, and fan of Kailua Beach.

Ready for another adventure with our friends Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger? Jacqueline Kelly's sequel to the classic The Wind in the Willows continues the wild antics of these four beloved characters, written in a voice that masterfully emulates the original.

Author Anne Bustard is a former children's bookseller and teacher, avid listmaker, and fan of Kailua Beach.

Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson speaks about crazy families, her unrealized dream of "fitting in," and taking dark situations with a grain of humour in her memoir Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened reached number one on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Moderator Donna M. Johnson is the author of Holy Ghost Girl, an award winning memoir critically acclaimed by The New York Times, O Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Texas Monthly, and other publications. She escaped the family cult at seventeen to become a writer. She lives in Austin with her husband, the poet and author Kirk Wilson.

We’re here to celebrate the wasp-covered woman in the garage, the thoughts and happenings manifesting themselves in floating words and doorways, and the pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. The writers in conversation during this session are creative, edgy thinkers whose books, in various degrees of surreality, invite us to think about the world in a new way.

Moderator Manuel Gonzales, a graduate of the Columbia University creative writing program, lives in Austin. He has published fiction and nonfiction in Open City, Fence, One Story, Esquire, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and The Believer. He is currently the executive director of Austin Bat cave. His collection The Miniature Wife and Other Stories will be released by Riverhead Books in January 2013. He lives with his wife and two children.

 

We’re here to celebrate the wasp-covered woman in the garage, the thoughts and happenings manifesting themselves in floating words and doorways, and the pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. The writers in conversation during this session are creative, edgy thinkers whose books, in various degrees of surreality, invite us to think about the world in a new way.

Moderator Manuel Gonzales, a graduate of the Columbia University creative writing program, lives in Austin. He has published fiction and nonfiction in Open City, Fence, One Story, Esquire, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and The Believer. He is currently the executive director of Austin Bat cave. His collection The Miniature Wife and Other Stories will be released by Riverhead Books in January 2013. He lives with his wife and two children.

 

Do you have a hobby that you love enough to share with the world? Meg Wolitzer declares her passion for scrabble in her gradeschool book The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, in which three unique kids come together at a Youth Scrabble Tournament. And in his book The Cardturner, Sachar displays his flare for bridge with a heartwarming story about a lonely boy and his bridge-playing uncle. Listen to the authors discuss their favorite hobbies and you might just leave with a new hobby of your own.

Jenny "The Bloggess" Lawson speaks about crazy families, her unrealized dream of "fitting in," and taking dark situations with a grain of humour in her memoir Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened reached number one on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Moderator Donna M. Johnson is the author of Holy Ghost Girl, an award winning memoir critically acclaimed by The New York Times, O Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Texas Monthly, and other publications. She escaped the family cult at seventeen to become a writer. She lives in Austin with her husband, the poet and author Kirk Wilson.

The Dinotrux have broken out of the museum to take their revenge on the neighborhood and there is only one way to stop them from misbehaving: send them to school! Revenge of the Dinotrux shows that you can teach an angry old Dinotrux new tricks. Gall has written and illustrated several award-winning books, including Dinotrux, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2009 and America the Beautiful, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2004.

King Duncan spends most of his time staring at his reflection in the mirror, but with all his attention on his royal face, the king has no time for his royal duties. This story is perfect for teaching five- and six-year-olds about showing concern for others. Mac Barnett is the author of several children's books including The Brixton Brothers series, The Clock Without a Face, and Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem.

The Dinotrux have broken out of the museum to take their revenge on the neighborhood and there is only one way to stop them from misbehaving: send them to school! Revenge of the Dinotrux shows that you can teach an angry old Dinotrux new tricks. Gall has written and illustrated several award-winning books, including Dinotrux, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2009 and America the Beautiful, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2004.

Like Volumes 1 and 2, Good Eats 3: The Later Years packs a bounty of information and entertainment between its covers with Alton Brown’s wildly inventive, science-geeky, food-loving spirit. More than 200 recipes are accompanied by hundreds of photographs and drawings, as well as lots of science-of-food facts, cooking tips, food trivia – and bonus sock puppet instructions! Brown is the host of Good Eats (winner of a 2007 Peabody Award and 2011 James Beard Award) and the commentator on Iron Chef America, both on Food Network. The author of seven cookbooks, he lives near Atlanta.

Introducer Vance Ely started in the culinary industry in the mid Eighties, working for Pepsi Co. and Yum Inc. but the turning point in his food life occurred at a food festival in California, working with PBS chefs Julia Child and Martin Yan in the early 90's. He moved back home to Texas in 1992 and started working at Central Market in 1998 and has been teaching in the Central Market Cooking School over 10 years, working with great chefs from around the globe.

The Texas Book Festival would like to pause and remember Carlos Fuentes, an author who, perhaps more than any other, embodied Mexico's modern literary tradition. Join us for this discussion of one of the world's most important voices.

More information about the two Festival writers on this panel can be found below, while panelist Alfredo Estrada was born in Havana, Cuba and graduated with honors from Harvard University. After practicing law, he founded Hispanic, an award-winning magazine for U.S. Hispanics. Estrada is also the author of a novel, Welcome to Havana, Señor Hemingway, and the nonfiction Havana: Autobiography of a City. He now lives in Austin and is the Editor and Publisher of Latino magazine.

Moderator Mario Tapia studied International Affairs at the Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, but early in his career started working at Editorial Clío, where he collaborated on several historic projects such as the organization of the José Vasconcelos archives. He collaborated in the research teams for several books, including Los Madero. La Saga Liberal, which won the Premio Banamex "Anastasio G. Saravia" in Mexico. He has written for various newspapers, including Reforma, and has been part of the editorial team at El Mundo newspaper in Austin. He also has published two books, Mexico: Diario de Máximo and 101 Héroes en la Historia de México. He is currently the executive producer and host of “NotiHispano,” the first and only radio news show in Spanish in Central Texas.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

During the research and writing of their three non-fiction titles, Andrew Blackwell, Bryan Mealer, and Robert Sullivan immersed themselves in some of the world's most under-reported communities. Their books show the depth and breadth of their time in each space. Through the power of intimate details and rich imagery, each book pulls the reader into the time and place of the story. Blackwell, Mealer, and Sullivan will talk about why spending time about the place you're writing about creates unforgettable stories.    

Moderator Susan Smith Richardson teaches journalism at Texas State University in San Marcos. She has written and edited for publications across the nation, including The Texas Observer, the Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe and the Austin American-Statesman. Richardson was a 2003 Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

Not all worthy books are lines of black text on white pages. We've asked two young adult writers with new graphic novels out this year to show images from their books (Mangaman and Tantalize: Kieron's Story) in a conversation about creating books for readers who want more than one way to read.

Moderator Vicky Smith is the Children's & Teen Editor at Kirkus Reviews, the world's toughest book critics. She has served on the American Library Association's Newbery and Caldecott committees and is an adjunct instructor for the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College in Boston. A children's librarian by training, she believes in connecting kids with great books in any way possible.

 

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

Like Volumes 1 and 2, Good Eats 3: The Later Years packs a bounty of information and entertainment between its covers with Alton Brown’s wildly inventive, science-geeky, food-loving spirit. More than 200 recipes are accompanied by hundreds of photographs and drawings, as well as lots of science-of-food facts, cooking tips, food trivia – and bonus sock puppet instructions! Brown is the host of Good Eats (winner of a 2007 Peabody Award and 2011 James Beard Award) and the commentator on Iron Chef America, both on Food Network. The author of seven cookbooks, he lives near Atlanta.

Introducer Vance Ely started in the culinary industry in the mid Eighties, working for Pepsi Co. and Yum Inc. but the turning point in his food life occurred at a food festival in California, working with PBS chefs Julia Child and Martin Yan in the early 90's. He moved back home to Texas in 1992 and started working at Central Market in 1998 and has been teaching in the Central Market Cooking School over 10 years, working with great chefs from around the globe.

Two books published this year recount the neglected and fascinating history of Negro league baseball in Texas – one account by historian Rob Fink and another by baseball player Jerry Craft, the first white player to be recruited by the West Texas Colored League.

Moderator Martin Kohout is a native of San Francisco and is a writer and editor with the Texas State Historical Association and with Humanities Texas. He is also the author of the award-winning biography Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball’s Biggest Crook. He and his wife publish the blog Free Range: Food, Writing, the Texas Hill Country, and More.

 

 

 

During the research and writing of their three non-fiction titles, Andrew Blackwell, Bryan Mealer, and Robert Sullivan immersed themselves in some of the world's most under-reported communities. Their books show the depth and breadth of their time in each space. Through the power of intimate details and rich imagery, each book pulls the reader into the time and place of the story. Blackwell, Mealer, and Sullivan will talk about why spending time about the place you're writing about creates unforgettable stories.    

Moderator Susan Smith Richardson teaches journalism at Texas State University in San Marcos. She has written and edited for publications across the nation, including The Texas Observer, the Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe and the Austin American-Statesman. Richardson was a 2003 Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

It's a great year in Texas books when two outstanding novels about El Paso are published in the same year. The writers, Richard Yañez and Sergio Troncoso, will be in conversation during this session about their hometown and its place in their fiction. The title of Yañez’s novel, Cross Over Water, could refer to the physical act of immigration, but 12-year-old “Ruly” Cruz’s crossing begins when his childhood home is inexplicably “left behind like a lizard tail in the desert" and can only end when he recognizes his role in the future of the borderland. Troncoso's new novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust tells the story of the Martinez family, who moves from Juárez to El Paso in the hopes of ensuring a better future for themselves. Spanning 40 years – from the 60's to the ought’s – the story is told from the perspective of all six family members as they try to take on new roles and identities while holding on to their roots and connections with each other.

Moderator Marcia Hatfield Daudistel is the editor, most recently of Grace and Gumption: The Women of El Paso, released this month, and Literary El Paso, published by TCU Press in 2009. As the former Associate Director of Texas Western Press, she produced over 70 books and established the bilingual imprint Frontera Books. Daudistel is the West Texas/Trans Pecos Editor of Texas Books in Review. She is currently at work with award winning writer and photographer Bill Wright on Authentic Texas: The People of the Big Bend for UT Press. She has made El Paso her home for 26 years.

Two books published this year recount the neglected and fascinating history of Negro league baseball in Texas – one account by historian Rob Fink and another by baseball player Jerry Craft, the first white player to be recruited by the West Texas Colored League.

Moderator Martin Kohout is a native of San Francisco and is a writer and editor with the Texas State Historical Association and with Humanities Texas. He is also the author of the award-winning biography Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball’s Biggest Crook. He and his wife publish the blog Free Range: Food, Writing, the Texas Hill Country, and More.

 

 

 

Katherine Losse was a grad school refugee when she joined Facebook as employee #51 in 2005. Despite increasing skepticism about Facebook's "cause," Losse finally landed a seat right outside Zuckerberg’s office as his personal ghostwriter, the voice of the boy king. In her new book, Losse takes us for the first time into the heart of this fast-growing information empire and answers the biggest question of all: What kind of world is Facebook trying to build, and is it the world we want to live in? Losse was born in Phoenix,Arizona, and holds a master’s degree in English from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Marfa, Texas.

Moderator Sam Martin is the director of digital strategy at Texas Monthly where he is helping the magazine innovate for the next generation of Texans.
Previous to joining Texas Monthly, Sam was the director of global content strategy at frog design and the founding editor of design mind. He is also the author of 10 books of non-fiction, including a forthcoming biography on the sustainable design pioneer Pliny Fisk III.

Katherine Losse was a grad school refugee when she joined Facebook as employee #51 in 2005. Despite increasing skepticism about Facebook's "cause," Losse finally landed a seat right outside Zuckerberg’s office as his personal ghostwriter, the voice of the boy king. In her new book, Losse takes us for the first time into the heart of this fast-growing information empire and answers the biggest question of all: What kind of world is Facebook trying to build, and is it the world we want to live in? Losse was born in Phoenix,Arizona, and holds a master’s degree in English from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Marfa, Texas.

Moderator Sam Martin is the director of digital strategy at Texas Monthly where he is helping the magazine innovate for the next generation of Texans.
Previous to joining Texas Monthly, Sam was the director of global content strategy at frog design and the founding editor of design mind. He is also the author of 10 books of non-fiction, including a forthcoming biography on the sustainable design pioneer Pliny Fisk III.

During the research and writing of their three non-fiction titles, Andrew Blackwell, Bryan Mealer, and Robert Sullivan immersed themselves in some of the world's most under-reported communities. Their books show the depth and breadth of their time in each space. Through the power of intimate details and rich imagery, each book pulls the reader into the time and place of the story. Blackwell, Mealer, and Sullivan will talk about why spending time about the place you're writing about creates unforgettable stories.    

Moderator Susan Smith Richardson teaches journalism at Texas State University in San Marcos. She has written and edited for publications across the nation, including The Texas Observer, the Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe and the Austin American-Statesman. Richardson was a 2003 Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

Two books published this year recount the neglected and fascinating history of Negro league baseball in Texas – one account by historian Rob Fink and another by baseball player Jerry Craft, the first white player to be recruited by the West Texas Colored League.

Moderator Martin Kohout is a native of San Francisco and is a writer and editor with the Texas State Historical Association and with Humanities Texas. He is also the author of the award-winning biography Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball’s Biggest Crook. He and his wife publish the blog Free Range: Food, Writing, the Texas Hill Country, and More.

 

 

 

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood, left home in Auburn, New York, for northwestern Colorado. Bored by their society luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teaching jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied. Dorothy Wickenden – the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff - found century-old letters composed by the pair and began to reconstruct their journey.

Moderator Elizabeth Crook is the author of three novels: The Raven's Bride, Promised Lands, and The Night Journal. She has published in anthologies and periodicals such as Texas Monthly and Southwestern Historical Quarterly, and lives with her husband and two children in Austin.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood, left home in Auburn, New York, for northwestern Colorado. Bored by their society luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teaching jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied. Dorothy Wickenden – the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff - found century-old letters composed by the pair and began to reconstruct their journey.

Moderator Elizabeth Crook is the author of three novels: The Raven's Bride, Promised Lands, and The Night Journal. She has published in anthologies and periodicals such as Texas Monthly and Southwestern Historical Quarterly, and lives with her husband and two children in Austin.

Kadir Nelson presents an epic yet intimate history of America and African Americans from colonial days through the civil rights movement, with Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Nelson is an award-winning author and illustrator.

Moderator Don Tate is the award-winning illustrator and author of more than 40 books for children, and a speaker/presenter at school libraries. His debut picture book as an author, It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw, is a Lee & Low Books New Voices winner. Don also works as an illustrator and graphics reporter at the Austin American-Statesman. 

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

The pictures within a children's book alone are not what fully engages a child; the connection is made from the very first words he or she reads. In this panel, we have asked several authors to reveal the artistry behind the witty and heartwarming lines which their young readers love.

Moderator Suzanne Wofford has served with the Children's Chapter of TBF for over 10 years, often presenting authors with her students from R. E. Lee Elementary in Austin where she is librarian. Her favorite part of the Festival is the excitement of kids when hearing their favorite authors and meeting new ones.

In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood, left home in Auburn, New York, for northwestern Colorado. Bored by their society luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teaching jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied. Dorothy Wickenden – the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff - found century-old letters composed by the pair and began to reconstruct their journey.

Moderator Elizabeth Crook is the author of three novels: The Raven's Bride, Promised Lands, and The Night Journal. She has published in anthologies and periodicals such as Texas Monthly and Southwestern Historical Quarterly, and lives with her husband and two children in Austin.

Sometimes the deepest wounds leave no physical mark at all. Two former front line soldiers in Iraq have written brave, moving memoirs about the difficulties they faced readjusting to life during peacetime. These unflinching examinations of depression, trauma, and the long, difficult road back to happiness will shed light on the enemy within.

Moderator Juli Berwald is a science writer with a background in oceanography living in Austin. She writes for National Geographic magazine, the Gulf Coast Carbon Center at The University of Texas, Austin, and WH Freeman Company. For the last decade, Juli has been involved with the Austin Jewish Book Fair, a proud partner of the Texas Book Festival. She's working on a book about jellyfish.

From Diane Morgan, the author of more than 10 cookbooks, comes Roots: The Definitive Compendium with More Than 225 Recipes. Morgan will demo recipes from her new cookbook during this session. Explore the fascinating history and lore of 29 major roots, their nutritional content, how to buy and store them, and much more, from the familiar (beets, carrots, potatoes) to the unfamiliar (jicama, salsify, malanga) to the practically unheard of (cassava, galangal, crosnes). Diane Morgan is an award-winning teacher, cookbook author, and freelance food writer. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

From Diane Morgan, the author of more than 10 cookbooks, comes Roots: The Definitive Compendium with More Than 225 Recipes. Morgan will demo recipes from her new cookbook during this session. Explore the fascinating history and lore of 29 major roots, their nutritional content, how to buy and store them, and much more, from the familiar (beets, carrots, potatoes) to the unfamiliar (jicama, salsify, malanga) to the practically unheard of (cassava, galangal, crosnes). Diane Morgan is an award-winning teacher, cookbook author, and freelance food writer. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

From Diane Morgan, the author of more than 10 cookbooks, comes Roots: The Definitive Compendium with More Than 225 Recipes. Morgan will demo recipes from her new cookbook during this session. Explore the fascinating history and lore of 29 major roots, their nutritional content, how to buy and store them, and much more, from the familiar (beets, carrots, potatoes) to the unfamiliar (jicama, salsify, malanga) to the practically unheard of (cassava, galangal, crosnes). Diane Morgan is an award-winning teacher, cookbook author, and freelance food writer. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

From Diane Morgan, the author of more than 10 cookbooks, comes Roots: The Definitive Compendium with More Than 225 Recipes. Morgan will demo recipes from her new cookbook during this session. Explore the fascinating history and lore of 29 major roots, their nutritional content, how to buy and store them, and much more, from the familiar (beets, carrots, potatoes) to the unfamiliar (jicama, salsify, malanga) to the practically unheard of (cassava, galangal, crosnes). Diane Morgan is an award-winning teacher, cookbook author, and freelance food writer. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Learn how to turn “oops” into art with Barney Salzburg.  Salzburg will hold demonstrations on how to turn everyday blunders into colorful, creative masterpieces. Saltzberg has published approximately 30 books as well as recorded four CDs of music for children.

Learn how to turn “oops” into art with Barney Salzburg.  Salzburg will hold demonstrations on how to turn everyday blunders into colorful, creative masterpieces. Saltzberg has published approximately 30 books as well as recorded four CDs of music for children.

Learn how to turn “oops” into art with Barney Salzburg.  Salzburg will hold demonstrations on how to turn everyday blunders into colorful, creative masterpieces. Saltzberg has published approximately 30 books as well as recorded four CDs of music for children.

Dinosaur likes to roar - loudly. He does it so well, in fact, that the other animals he runs into can’t help but join in. They roar all the way to the library, where, after a few admonishments, dinosaur learns how to use his indoor voice. Bob Shea returns to the Texas Book Festival this year after his buzzed about debut at the 2010 Festival with Dinosaur vs the Potty.

Author Don Tate takes a historical look at one of the foremost self-taught artists in America – in fact, Traylor was a former slave turned artist - and weaves it into an entertaining story. Tate has received multiple awards for his illustrations and has been featured at the in the past Festival for his work as an illustrator. Christie has illustrated more than 25 children’s books, two of which have achieved the New York Times’ 10 Best-Illustrated Children’s Books Award. He is a three-time recipient of a Coretta Scott King Honor Award in Illustration. Christie’s illustrations in the children’s book Yesterday I Had the Blues was featured on PBS’ television show, Between the Lions.

Dinosaur likes to roar - loudly. He does it so well, in fact, that the other animals he runs into can’t help but join in. They roar all the way to the library, where, after a few admonishments, dinosaur learns how to use his indoor voice. Bob Shea returns to the Texas Book Festival this year after his buzzed about debut at the 2010 Festival with Dinosaur vs the Potty.

Author Don Tate takes a historical look at one of the foremost self-taught artists in America – in fact, Traylor was a former slave turned artist - and weaves it into an entertaining story. Tate has received multiple awards for his illustrations and has been featured at the in the past Festival for his work as an illustrator. Christie has illustrated more than 25 children’s books, two of which have achieved the New York Times’ 10 Best-Illustrated Children’s Books Award. He is a three-time recipient of a Coretta Scott King Honor Award in Illustration. Christie’s illustrations in the children’s book Yesterday I Had the Blues was featured on PBS’ television show, Between the Lions.

Author Don Tate takes a historical look at one of the foremost self-taught artists in America – in fact, Traylor was a former slave turned artist - and weaves it into an entertaining story. Tate has received multiple awards for his illustrations and has been featured at the in the past Festival for his work as an illustrator. Christie has illustrated more than 25 children’s books, two of which have achieved the New York Times’ 10 Best-Illustrated Children’s Books Award. He is a three-time recipient of a Coretta Scott King Honor Award in Illustration. Christie’s illustrations in the children’s book Yesterday I Had the Blues was featured on PBS’ television show, Between the Lions.

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

As historian Walter Borneman details in Rival Rails, after the battle among competing railroad companies to build rail lines into the American Southwest died down, the West was up for grabs. That’s when Fred Harvey, considered the founding father of America’s service industry and the subject of Stephen Fried's book Appetite for America, stepped in as he established the nation’s first extensive restaurant chain throughout the West. Borneman and Fried will be in conversation during this session about a time in American history when the United States was still uniting and Americans were still being introduced to America.

W.K. (Kip) Stratton is the author of Backyard Brawl, Chasing the Rodeo, and Boxing Shadows; he also is the co-editor of Splendor in the Short Grass: The Grover Lewis Reader.  His magazine writing has appeared in GQ, Sports Illustrated, and Outside, among other publications.  He lives in suburban Austin.

 

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

The loss of innocence sometimes has dire, even fatal, consequences. Two novels in the 2012 Festival lineup boast nuanced insights into the ways that the beliefs we grow up with can become intolerant cudgels we use against strangers and our own families.

Moderator Mary Helen Specht's fiction and nonfiction has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, The Texas Observer, and The Ibadan Journal of English Studies, among others. She teaches creative writing at St. Edward's University in Austin and can be found at maryhelenspecht.com.

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

We've gathered two of the most exciting young adult writers publishing today and asked them to be in conversation during this session.

Moderator Sarah Pitre founded the website Forever Young Adult for YA readers "who are a little less Y and a bit more A." This cocktail-loving community celebrates young adult literature without shame and hosts 70 book clubs around the world. Sarah also programs a variety of film series for the Alamo Drafthouse and is attracted to anything that sparkles (except vampires).

Thomas Frank looks at the correlation between the poor economy and the revival of conservatism in his novel Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right. An award-winning author, Frank is a former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Moderator Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics include the Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, the Peabody Award winning Vote for Me: Politics in America, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), and two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics, worked as political pollster in Louisiana, and now lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.

We've gathered two of the most exciting young adult writers publishing today and asked them to be in conversation during this session.

Moderator Sarah Pitre founded the website Forever Young Adult for YA readers "who are a little less Y and a bit more A." This cocktail-loving community celebrates young adult literature without shame and hosts 70 book clubs around the world. Sarah also programs a variety of film series for the Alamo Drafthouse and is attracted to anything that sparkles (except vampires).

We've gathered two of the most exciting young adult writers publishing today and asked them to be in conversation during this session.

Moderator Sarah Pitre founded the website Forever Young Adult for YA readers "who are a little less Y and a bit more A." This cocktail-loving community celebrates young adult literature without shame and hosts 70 book clubs around the world. Sarah also programs a variety of film series for the Alamo Drafthouse and is attracted to anything that sparkles (except vampires).

We've gathered two of the most exciting young adult writers publishing today and asked them to be in conversation during this session.

Moderator Sarah Pitre founded the website Forever Young Adult for YA readers "who are a little less Y and a bit more A." This cocktail-loving community celebrates young adult literature without shame and hosts 70 book clubs around the world. Sarah also programs a variety of film series for the Alamo Drafthouse and is attracted to anything that sparkles (except vampires).

Leticia Rodriguez is an enchanting and energetic Latin World music singer and performer. As a performer, she is cultured, sophisticated, and well educated, compelling her audiences to dance and sing.  Con alma, the boleros, cha-chas and mambos, with a splash of bossa nova, samba, jazz and son present a cocktail of enjoyment for a world-minded audience. In October 2012, she released her first CD, bringing forth music of her Aunt Eva Garza along with music representative of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, and the U.S.

Leticia Rodriguez is an enchanting and energetic Latin World music singer and performer. As a performer, she is cultured, sophisticated, and well educated, compelling her audiences to dance and sing.  Con alma, the boleros, cha-chas and mambos, with a splash of bossa nova, samba, jazz and son present a cocktail of enjoyment for a world-minded audience. In October 2012, she released her first CD, bringing forth music of her Aunt Eva Garza along with music representative of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, and the U.S.

Led by Slim Richey, “The Most Dangerous Guitar Player In Texas” and featuring the vocal styles of Sarah Sharp (think Billie Holiday, Rickie Lee Jones, Nina Simone), The Jitterbug Vipers play SWINGADELIC: vintage jazz, swing, hot, sultry, dance music. Imagine a dimly lit nightclub in 1940's Chicago where Wes Montgomery, Ray Brown are jamming with Count Basie and meet up with Jerry Garcia and Billie Holliday in a dark alley.

Leticia Rodriguez is an enchanting and energetic Latin World music singer and performer. As a performer, she is cultured, sophisticated, and well educated, compelling her audiences to dance and sing.  Con alma, the boleros, cha-chas and mambos, with a splash of bossa nova, samba, jazz and son present a cocktail of enjoyment for a world-minded audience. In October 2012, she released her first CD, bringing forth music of her Aunt Eva Garza along with music representative of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, and the U.S.

Led by Slim Richey, “The Most Dangerous Guitar Player In Texas” and featuring the vocal styles of Sarah Sharp (think Billie Holiday, Rickie Lee Jones, Nina Simone), The Jitterbug Vipers play SWINGADELIC: vintage jazz, swing, hot, sultry, dance music. Imagine a dimly lit nightclub in 1940's Chicago where Wes Montgomery, Ray Brown are jamming with Count Basie and meet up with Jerry Garcia and Billie Holliday in a dark alley.

Led by Slim Richey, “The Most Dangerous Guitar Player In Texas” and featuring the vocal styles of Sarah Sharp (think Billie Holiday, Rickie Lee Jones, Nina Simone), The Jitterbug Vipers play SWINGADELIC: vintage jazz, swing, hot, sultry, dance music. Imagine a dimly lit nightclub in 1940's Chicago where Wes Montgomery, Ray Brown are jamming with Count Basie and meet up with Jerry Garcia and Billie Holliday in a dark alley.