15th Annual Texas Book Festival: Schedule announced

POSTED BY stephanie ON September 15, 2010

As much as we love live music here in Austin, we also have a heart for books — and we celebrate them both in grand style next month. This year, festival-goers can walk from Austin City Limits one weekend (October 8-10) to the Capitol grounds the next, for Texas Book Festival happening October 16-17. Yes, October in Austin is brilliant!

For 15 years now, the Capitol City has played host to Texas Book Festival, one of the nation’s best literary love fests. Thanks Laura Bush! [It was under the then First Lady of Texas's leadership that a task force was formed to organize a book festival to honor the state’s long-standing literary tradition.]

Get excited because our friends at Texas Book Festival just published the 2010 schedule. Here are a few highlights:

• Laura Bush discusses her memoir at the Paramount Theater (Sat. 10am)…followed by um, the Literary Death Match at 12:30pm.
• The awesomely bad Awkward Family Photos at The Sanctuary at First United Methodist Church (Sat. 1:30pm).
• Raise a glass to this session at 12:30pm: “Writing about Wine: Why We Love the Vine” with wine pros Wes Marshall and Mark Oldman in the cooking tent.
• Then, at 3:45pm, it’s great American novelist Jennifer Egan in the Capitol (Extension Rm E2.010).
• Sunday at 12:15pm, hear Justin Cronin read from his new book The Passage in the stately Senate Chamber.
• On Sunday in the C-SPAN/Book TV Tent, don’t miss The Promise: President Obama, Year One with Jonathan Alter, Ari Berman, and William Jelani Cobb, moderated by former Texas Monthly editor-in-chief Evan Smith (12:15pm).
• In the cooking tent (Sun. 3:30pm), Food Network’s Claire Robinson will demo recipes from her book 5-Ingredient Fix.

Soon book-nerds like us will be able to map out personalized literary line-ups with the forthcoming iPhone app, designed for TBF with Kirkus Reviews. Remember, sessions are free and open to the public, so arrive early to ensure seating.

Happy 15 years Texas Book Festival!

Tags: Austin festival, Texas Book Festival

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