What a beautiful day it was for the first in-person Texas Book Festival in three years!
The Texas Book Festival was started in 1996 by Texas First Lady Laura Bush, a former librarian.
The festival is held in the Capitol and on the grounds around the Capitol, and
it features over 300 authors and is attended by over 50,000 people.
Austin is a lively place, full of lively people.
I always love to visit here.
I raced to the Next Chapter Tent (kids' chapter book readers) to hear the announcement
for the 2023-2024 Texas Bluebonnet Awards (books for grades 3-6).
And then I was off to the Read to Me Tent.
I spent a lot of time at the Read to Me Tent.
I saw illustrator Jon Klassen and author Mac Barnett
read their new book, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
Jon Klassen showed how he drew the goats,
and he explained how his goats are different from his dogs. Really?
Alice Faye Duncan read her latest book Yellow Dog Blues.
Author/illustrator Marcelo Verdad read and showed us how he drew the pictures in
his book The Worst Teddy Ever.
Xelena Gonzales read her book Where Wonders Grow / Donde las maravillas crecen.
Author Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrator Sean Qualis shared their book Frances in the Country.
Illustrator Leo Espinosa read The World Belonged to Us.
I visited some of the other tents at the festival, too.
Kids and their parents did crafts in the Children's Activity Tent.
I saw three nonfiction children's authors in the Next Chapter Tent:
Carrie Fountain with The Poem Forest: Poet W. S. Merwin and the Palm Tree Forest He Grew from Scratch;
Carmen Oliver with Building an Orchestra of Hope: How Flavio Chavez Taught Children to Make Music from Trash; and
Christina Soontornvat with A Life of Service: The Story of Senator Tammy Duckworth.
I heard Judy I. Lin speak about her new book A Venom Dark and Sweet in the YA HQ Tent.
Katharine McGee spoke about her new book in the American Royals series in the YA HQ Tent.
Amanda Eyre Ward (The Lifeguards) and Michael Parker (I Am the Light of This World)
spoke about their books set in Austin
in the Texas Monthly Tent.
The Big Texas Cookbook was featured in the Central Market Cooking Tent.
It's great fun to hear authors speak inside the Capitol.
I heard two speak in the House Chamber...
...Sandra Cisneros with a new book of poems...
...and Elizabeth McCracken, receiving a pair of red boots as the prize for
winning the 2022 Texas Writer Award...
I was "delighted" to hear authors Ross Gay (The Book of Delights; Inciting Joy)
and Simian Feet Singh (The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life) speak.
I love to take photos of people caught reading at the festival.
And then, to finish out the festival,
I went to hear mystery author Janet Evanovich speak.
The line to get our books signed was really, really long.
But it was worth the wait...
The Texas Book Festival! (2013)
The Texas Book Festival (2009)
For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Create With Joy, Amanda's Books and More, and My Corner of the World.
