Lois Kim, Executive Director: Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders

I read this book in one day and it affected me deeply, which is to say I definitely cried in more than one place. Saunders’ imagining of Lincoln’s desperate grief over his young son Willie’s death is a ghost story, a virtuosic subversion of novelistic structure, and a meditation on what constrains and frees us as humans. As a reader, you start it and think, “hmm this is weird, what the heck is going on,” but then Saunders pulls you completely in with characters and a story that are wild, strange, funny, and a perfect rendering of our collective humanity. Have I said human and humanity more than once? That’s because I can’t think of another writer who is better at getting at our flawed, damning, but beautiful emotional selves more than Saunders.

Julie Wernersbach, Literary Director:

Tell Me How This Ends, by Valeria Luiselli

Technically, I read this book a couple of months ago, but it needs to be shared, so I’m making it my Friday Reads all over again. This book is essential reading. An absolute punch to the gut. Luiselli worked as an interpreter for child migrants from Latin America who were working through the legal process to remain in the United States. As she completes questionnaire after questionnaire, she pieces together the stories of their lives, of their countries, and of our country. This book shoves aside over-intellectualization of border and immigration policy and reminds us of the damn hard and harrowing realities of the children who come into the US from Central America and Mexico every day, what they faced in the cities they left and what they face when they get here. Luiselli is a sharp, searing writer. She packs a lot of power. Be prepared to cry. Read it, read it, read it and then share it.

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

One of the buzziest books hitting shelves this month. Our entire TBF staff has read it. If you’re into true crime, including podcasts such as Serial and S-Town, give this one a try. (Warning: the crimes in this book deal with the abuse of children and can make this a tough read at times.) The book focuses on the case of Ricky Langley, a man on death row for the murder and molestation of a young boy in the rural town of Iowa. As Lesnevich, a lawyer, learns more about the case, she delves into Ricky’s own complicated childhood. Juxtaposed against this awful crime is the story of Lesnevich’s abuse at the hands of her grandfather. What I find most fascinating about this book is the way Lesnevich turns inside the head of these criminals, seeking not just to explain the crimes, but to understand how they came to be the people who commit them, and what drives their impulses. Add to that her rich sense of detail and her ability to create fleshed-out narratives from transcripts, legal documents and newspaper clippings and you have a book that will keep you reading late into the night, considering good, evil, the death penalty, and the secrets that families keep from each other and the world.

Claire Burrows, Development Director: The Leavers, by Lisa Ko

Describing The Leavers in one sentence is as inadequate as describing New York City in one sentence. Author Lisa Ko brings a complex city to life, teeming with music and clamor, opportunity and injustice, noodle soup and greasy pizza. Through the beautiful and suffocating city, a mother and son emerge, so complicated in their relationship to each and themselves that I read without anticipating a conclusion, just wanting to know more. This is the book I’m recommending to everyone, just as I did with Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

Lea Bogner, Outreach Coordinator: The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas

I personally cannot think of a more timely, necessary read than Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give. The story follows 16-year-old Starr Carter, a basketball-playing sneakerhead who lives in a poor predominantly black neighborhood, but attends an affluent, predominantly white school. After she witnesses her childhood best friend get shot by a police officer, Starr has to confront the reality of racial injustice in America. This book is for anyone and everyone: if you consider yourself an ally, if you are grappling with the recent headlines of police brutality, or if you aren’t sure what to think about the Black Lives Matter movement. This book will stay with you and help you on your path to understanding.

Maris Finn, Administrative Assistant: The Idiot, by Elif Batuman

I am so engrossed in The Idiot by Elif Batuman. Her main character, Selin, seems to act so painfully wrong in so many social situations, yet also feels so true and relatable. I love how Batuman makes even the most mundane settings (a dorm room, for example) feel alien when seen through her character’s eyes. I’m breezing through this novel, but I also don’t want it to end!

Lydia Melby, Literary and Communications Coordinator: Ghosts of Greenglass House, by Kate Milford

I’m reading and loving Ghosts of Greenglass House, the sequel to Kate Milford’s fantastic middle-grade mystery Greenglass House. Milo, a Chinese-American middle-schooler who lives with his adopted parents in their creaky old Victorian-mansion-turned-inn in the fictional city of Nagspeake, is ready for a quiet Christmas break with his family when a bunch of lively strangers (and a few friends) show up to stay at the inn. Milo, already dealing with the loss of a friend, trouble with an insensitive teacher at school, and feeling, as always, a little out of place, realizes that some of the new guests are looking for more than a room for the night. The question is what, and can he find it before they do?

Ghosts of Greenglass House builds on the first book’s locked-house mystery with smugglers, thieves, corrupt officials, folklore, and (best of all) ghosts, but it delves even deeper into questions of identity, belonging, and the true shape of a family. Perfect for fans of The Westing Game and The Secret Keepers, this delightfully twisty mystery will have you shivering, shouting in surprise, and cheering for Milo and co. all the way through.

Our May Book Club picks are all about questioning what you know. Every book on this list, including Manuel Gonzalez’s incendiary, action-packed thriller, Nancy Isenberg’s examination of class in America, and Chuck Klosterman’s book-length essay urging us to quite literally question our commonly-held ideas, and Margaret Atwood’s  The Handmaid’s Tale (the television adaptation of which premiered on Hulu just last month), all invite us to re-think our realities.

The Regional Office is Under Attack by Manuel Gonzalez, 416 pages, Fiction

In a world beset by amassing forces of darkness, one organization—the Regional Office—and its coterie of super-powered female assassins protects the globe from annihilation. At its helm, the mysterious Oyemi and her oracles seek out new recruits and root out evil plots. Then a prophecy suggests that someone from inside might bring about its downfall. And now, the Regional Office is under attack. Recruited by a defector from within, Rose is a young assassin leading the attack, eager to stretch into her powers and prove herself on her first mission. Defending the Regional Office is Sarah—who may or may not have a mechanical arm—fiercely devoted to the organization that took her in as a young woman in the wake of her mother’s sudden disappearance. On the day that the Regional Office is attacked, Rose’s and Sarah’s stories will overlap, their lives will collide, and the world as they know it just might end.

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, 368 pages, Fiction

Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. This is a story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.

White Trash, the 400-Year Untold Story of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg, 480 pages, Nonfiction

But What if We’re Wrong by Chuck Klosterman, 288 pages, Nonfiction

But What If We’re Wrong? is a book of original, reported, interconnected pieces, which speculate on the likelihood that many universally accepted, deeply ingrained cultural and scientific beliefs will someday seem absurd. Covering a spectrum of objective and subjective topics, the book attempts to visualize present-day society the way it will be viewed in a distant future. Klosterman cites original interviews with a wide variety of thinkers and experts — including George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Alex Ross, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Dan Carlin, Nick Bostrom, and Richard Linklater.

Joe Gould’s Teeth by Jill Lepore, 256 pages, Nonfiction

From New Yorker staff writer and Harvard historian Jill Lepore, the dark, spellbinding tale of her restless search for the missing longest book ever written, a century-old manuscript called “The Oral History of Our Time.” Joe Gould’s Teeth is a Poe-like tale of detection, madness, and invention. Digging through archives all over the country, Lepore unearthed evidence that “The Oral History of Our Time” did in fact once exist. Relying on letters, scraps, and Gould’s own diaries and notebooks—including volumes of his lost manuscript—Lepore argues that Joe Gould’s real secret had to do with sex and the color line, with modernists’ relationship to the Harlem Renaissance, and, above all, with Gould’s terrifying obsession with the African American sculptor Augusta Savage. In ways that even Gould himself could not have imagined, what Gould wrote down really is a history of our time: unsettling and ferocious

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, 311 pages, Fiction

In this seminal work of speculative fiction, the Booker Prize-winning author asks: In the world of the near future, who will control women’s bodies? Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…. Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and literary tour de force.

What are you reading this month? Share your May reads with us on Twitter @texasbookfest !

Promoting literacy and strengthening Texas libraries have been primary components of the Texas Book Festival’s mission since our founding in 1995. As of this year, we’ve funded 1,077 collection enhancement grants for more than 600 Texas libraries, for a total of $3 million in awarded grants.

This year, we’re proud to award $100,000 in Texas Library Grants to libraries across the state.

This funding, which comes largely from generous donations made by Festival supporters, enables libraries to share the diversity and breadth of literature with their entire communities.

Strong libraries foster strong communities. We’re grateful for the opportunity to support libraries as they find innovative ways to engage their patrons and encourage literacy in Texas.

This year, we’re honored to give collection enhancement grants to the following Texas libraries:

Abilene Public Library, Mockingbird Branch
Amarillo Public Library
Aransas County Public Library
Arlington Public Library-Southeast Branch Library
Balch Springs Library-Learning Center
Betty Foster Public Library
Carl and Mary Welhausen Library
Castroville Public Library
Chico Public Library
City of Hutto Public Library
Clute Library
Converse Public Library
Cooke County Library
Davis Library
Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memoral Library
Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library
East Bernard Branch Library
El Progreso Memorial Library
Electra Public Library
Ethel L. Whipple Memorial Library
Gaines County Library
Grapevine Public Library
Henderson County Clint W. Murchison Memorial Library

Jonestown Community Library
Judy B. McDonald Public Library
Krum Public Library
Lake Dallas Public Library
Leon Valley Public Library
Little Elm Public Library
Llano County Library System
Longview Public Library
Martin Luther King Jr Library
Medina Community Library
Natalia Veteran’s Memorial Library
Patrick Heath Public Library
Pearland Library
Reeves County Library
Richland Hills Public Library
Salado Public Library
South Waco Library
Tatum Public Library
Taylor Public Library
West Public Library
Wolfe City Public Library

Congratulations to each of these libraries! We look forward to seeing them grow in the coming year.

Sound the trumpets! Unfurl the flags! We’re very excited to unveil our brand new Texas Book Festival brand identity and family of logos! We’ve been working closely with the Austin office of Pentagram, one of the world’s largest independent design consultancies, to create an identity that captures everything the Texas Book Festival is and does.

Piece of cake, right?

It took two years.

Creating a new identity involves a lot more than simply designing a snazzy new logo. Our staff, board, and partners at Pentagram thought hard about what our organization stands for and how we define ourselves. We considered our mission statement: “The Texas Book Festival connects authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas, and imagination.” We considered our vision statement: “To inspire Texans of all ages to love reading.” We thought about all of the iconic images associated with Texas; branding irons, armadillos, cowboy hats. And, of course, the form of the book presents a variety of options on its own; open books, fluttering pages, stacked books, bookshelves.

We also took into consideration a challenge we face every day, which is how to communicate the full breadth of what the Texas Book Festival, as an organization, does. Given that our name is what it is, people often identify us only as the two day Festival Weekend. While that big event is a large part of what we do with our effort and energy each year, we also execute and oversee several other large-scale literacy initiatives: Reading Rock Stars, Texas Library Grants, our Fresh Ink Fiction Contest, and the Texas Teen Book Festival. The task we presented to Pentagram was not a small one: come up with a family of logos that represents all of our programs in a unified, but distinct, way.

We love the result.

“The contours of Texas’s physical boundaries have given the state a distinctive silhouette that is instantly recognizable,” says DJ Stout, Pentagram designer. “You could say it has become ‘our’ logo. So it was only natural to think about using that unique footprint as the basis for developing a new identity for the Texas Book Festival. The new logo’s graphic “bookshelf” running across the state from El Paso to Texarkana symbolizes the breadth and diversity of the Texas Book Festival’s offerings and emphasizes its commitment to the entire state of Texas.”

This final logo is one of more than two dozen design concepts Pentagram presented to us over the course of this two year project. In the end, it was our vision statement that guided the process and our ultimate decision.

“We wanted the Texas Book Festival’s visual identity to reflect our vision to inspire Texans of all ages to love reading,” Lois Kim, Executive Director of the Texas Book Festival, explains. “The image of books stretching all across Texas represents our highest hopes for all Texans to have access to books and meaningful literary experiences.”

We’re thrilled to finally share the product of this hard work with all of you. Enormous thanks to Pentagram for their expert guidance, advice and design. Thanks, also, to our Board of Directors and to the committee that met week after week, month after month to offer feedback and think in depth about how we wanted this longstanding organization to be represented.

And now, it is with fond hearts and many happy memories that we hereby officially retire what we lovingly refer to as our old friend, “The Taco Hat.”

It’s almost April, but of course just because SXSW is over doesn’t mean a lag in the thrilling events that makes Austin’s arts culture so vital. One event we’re looking forward to is Fusebox Festival—a unique multi-disciplinary arts festival that runs from April 12-16, 2017. 

Lit Crawl Austin, our fun house of irreverent, irresistible, invigorating literary mayhem, is pleased to present a rollicking, rousing, late-night reading featuring an eye-popping lineup of Austin poets and writers as part of the Fusebox Festival. Join us on Thursday, April 13 at 11:59 at Al Volta’s Midnight Bar as some of our city’s literary superstars present their stunning, stupefying, state-of-the-art stories.

Featured performers:
Amanda Johnston
G F Harper
Owen Egerton
Abe Louise Young
Sasha West

Fusebox Festival brings artists and audiences together to explore vital issues, ideas and new possibilities. Their ongoing investigation positions the arts at the center of local, national, and global conversations about contemporary life and culture. We’re thrilled to join them in this unique midnight adventure!

This event is free and open to the public—full details and location here. We hope to see you there!

Keep Lit Crawl Austin on your radar: we’ll be celebrating literature in bars, galleries, and creative spaces on East Cesar Chavez Street the evening of Saturday, November 4, 2017.