The Texas Book Festival is this weekend, and we’re so pumped about the weekend’s schedule and the diversity of this year’s offerings. Check out the TBF website for the full list of authors and panels and make sure to check out Lit Crawl Austin on Saturday night for even more fun events (plus cocktails)!
Every year, we look forward to our exhibitor booth at TBF, where visitors can meet our staff and volunteers, learn about membership, and raise a glass to toast our book award honorees. And this year, as in years past, we’re thrilled to offer our members, many of whom are incredible Texas authors, the opportunity to sign and promote their books at our booth. Check out the schedule!
We’ll have signings all weekend, and we wanted to share a little more about each of our signers with you in advance of the festival. Check out our blog tomorrow for a post on Sundays’ authors and again on Wednesday for a post on several special events happening at our booth and around the festival!
You can find us at Exhibitor Tent 3, Booths 320-321. (Find info on the festival grounds and parking here.)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4
AUTHOR SIGNINGS
10 a.m.
Lauren Flake & Kathryn Kronenberg (Children’s)
Lauren Flake is an artist, author, Alzheimer’s daughter, and seventh generation Texan. She lives near her native Austin with her husband Travis and their two young daughters. In 2015, her #TexasStrong shirts raised over $146,000 for central Texas flood relief in memory of her mother, Dixie Benton Stucky. Lauren’s children’s books–Where Did My Sweet Grandma Go?: A Preschooler’s Guide to Losing a Loved One and its companion, Where Did My Sweet Grandpa Go?–include original artwork by her late mom alongside her own watercolor illustrations. Purchase her books here.
Kathryn Kronenberg is a born-and-raised Texan with a Big Dream: that people all around the world smile BIG in who they are as they believe in themselves and their dreams! The idea whacked her over the head like a 2 x 4 at a symphony ten years ago. At first, she ignored the call. Then finally after going to every bookstore and library she could find, she chose to follow her dream. Now, she knows following one’s dream can turn life into a grand adventure. Her book Dream BIG is set in the wilds of East Africa long ago, where animals discover a powerful secret—SHHH—that they can use to help make dreams come true.
11 a.m.
Melinda Freeland & Maureen Lomo (Women’s Fiction/Romance)
Melinda Freeland’s novelist aspirations began not long after she learned to read and write, but she’s come a long way since penning her first story about Mr. & Mrs. Texas Toast. Love, Texas – Population 2 is her debut Christian contemporary romance novel. It was inspired by Melinda’s life as a newspaper reporter, her reunion with her first love, and her faith journey. Melinda lives in Canyon Lake, Texas. Some of her favorite pastimes are watching at least one drama or comedy DVD a week, spending time with family and friends, listening to a wide genre of music, and reading novels and biographies.
In high school, Maureen Lomo wrote poetry, but it would be over twenty years before she entertained the idea of writing professionally. She received her B.A. from the University of Texas and went on to a career in H.R. in Houston and D.C. before eventually working for the Dept. of State overseas. There, she experienced many fulfilling moments as she traveled and worked around the world. Now, as Maureen develops fiction, she makes sisterhood and West African culture a recurring theme in her work. She crafts her inspirational literature from her home base in Austin, Texas. Her debut novel Tenth Year in the Sun weaves together the lives of four “soul sisters” from different cultures as the best friends journey into the fullness of womanhood and endeavor to honor their ten-year commitment to reunite in a foreign land.
12 p.m.
Jerry Craven & James Garrison (Science Fiction/Literary Fiction)
Jerry Craven has published 28 books; his 2017 publications are Ceremonial Stones of Fire (short stories set in SE Asia) and Parallel Hours, a time travel novel co-written with Andrew Geyer. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the Science Fiction Writers of America. He serves as director for both Lamar University Literary Press and Ink Brush Press, and he is General Editor for the international journal Amarillo Bay. In Parallel Hours, which he’ll be signing at TBF, a Soviet era engineer, Tejmur, uses his newly invented time window to flee the 1990 Soviet invasion of Baku, Azerbaijan—only to run smack into Genghis Khan’s army, which is invading the city 770 years earlier.
James Garrison is a recovering lawyer who lives and writes in Houston, Texas. Born in Statesville, North Carolina, he attended the University of North Carolina, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa majoring in English and history and nurtured an interest in creative writing. Drafted during his first year in Duke Law School, he ended up as an army MP in Vietnam, where the endemic violence, corruption, and poverty—as well as the daily challenges of a military cop in a war zone—left a lasting impression reaching well beyond his years of practicing law in the oil patch. Set in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War, his book QL 4 is not a war story but a tale of intrigue, betrayal, and crime among soldiers on the same side in an unpopular war.
1 p.m.
Donna & Stacy Richardson (Children’s)
Authors of the chapter book The WWG-Mystery of the Town Treasure, Donna and Stacy Richardson share with you their spirit adventures through the eyes of an intuitive child. The WWG Book Series is based on events experienced by the authors and their loved ones while growing up around the Texas Gulf Coast and hearing tales of Bailey’s Prairie, the 1900 Storm, and the city built around cemeteries. You can find them sitting outside at dusk along Oyster Creek in Texas listening for the next story to write. So, come on Smaggles! Learn the WWG code words, and get ready for an adventure.
2 p.m.
Cynthia E. Davis, Ruth Davis, & Monica Shaw (Spirituality + Historical Fiction)
Cynthia E. Davis is a wife, mom, entrepreneur, military veteran, and most importantly a child of the most High King. She is passionate about people and helping them achieve their dreams. Her goal is to be a difference maker. Her mission is to eradicate poverty of the mind and to illuminate the path to a greater life for others. Her book The Spoken Word – Changing Your Life Through the Word is a devotional to help you on your journey through life.
Ruth Davis recently released Thirteen Rivers, the Last Voyage of LaBelle a novel of historical fiction based on the true adventures of French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and his colony. Ruth, a fifth generation Texan, lives in Palestine, Texas. Her family’s homestead in Henderson County dates back to 1887. She and husband Dan Davis, both avid history enthusiasts, have a real estate office and working ranch in Anderson County.
Monica Shaw is a native of Texas where she has been a successful entrepreneur. Her debut novel, The Rainwater Secret, started off as a personal research project looking into the life of her great aunt who became a missionary later in life. Shaw is married with 3 children and resides in Dallas, Texas.
Stay tuned tomorrow for our Sunday schedule!
If you read this post and thought “I’ve published a book! I wish I could sign at the Texas Book Festival!” consider joining the Writers’ League! Signing opportunities at our booths at the San Antonio Book Festival and the Texas Book Festival are available to all current members. Space is limited, so sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about when we will start accepting applications for the 2018 San Antonio Book Festival.
