By Jessica Weems
October is finally here! Texas Book Festival is only a few weeks away and we couldn’t be more excited here at The Writing Barn. Luckily for us, the events this week are the perfect was to tide us over until then as Austin has some incredible authors coming to town. So, go listen. Go learn. Go write.
The Events
On Thursday, October 2 at 7:30PM,St. Edward’s University will begin the Marcia Kinsey Visiting Writers Series. Writers of all kinds will visit campus to read from their work and discuss the writing process with students. The series is sponsored by the School of Humanities and gives students the opportunity to learn from award-winning writers. The first visiting writer of the series is poet Carrie Fountain. Fountain’s first collection, Burn Lake, was a 2009 National Poetry Series winner. She has been published in American Poetry Review, Tin House, Poetry and more. Her newest collection, Instant Winner, has just been published by Penguin. Following Fountain, is author Elizabeth McCracken.
On Friday, October 3 at 7PM, Malvern Books will host a reading by poets Timothy Donnelly and Cecily Parks. Donnelly is the author of Twenty-Seven Props for a Production of Eine Lebenszeit and is the poetry editor of Boston Review. He also teaches in the Writing Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and is the recipient of The Paris Review’s Bernard F. Conners Prize and the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award. Park resides in Austin and teaches at Texas State University. Her first collection of poems, Field Folly Snow, was a finalist for the Norma Farber First Book Award. Park’s next collection, O’Nights, will be published in April by 
Alice James Books.
On Sunday, October 5 at 2PM, Malvern Books will also present Scott Wiggerman, Elizabeth Raby, and Joyce Gullickson for an afternoon of poetry readings. Austin local, Wiggerman is the author of Presence and Vegetables and Other Relationships. Raby is the author of a four-generation memoir in prose and poetry, Ransomed Voices and This Woman which was a finalist for a 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. Gullickson’s poems have appeared in The Map of Austin, Di-verse-City, Sunscripts and the San Antonio Express News.
Also on Sunday, October 5 at 4PM, nutritionist and New York Times bestselling author LeAnne Ely will be at Book People for a speaking and signing over her new book, Part-Time Paleo: How to Go Paleo Without Going Crazy. Part-Time Paleo gives readers the tools that are necessary to creating a stress-free and simple-to-do Paleo lifestyle. Ely is also the author of Body 
Clutter and the Saving Dinner series.
On Tuesday, October 7 at 7PM, Book Woman will host Lisa Lenard-Cook for a speaking and signing over her novel, Dissonance. Check out a description of the novel here!
On Wednesday, October 8 at 7PM, Book People presents yet another New York Times bestselling author, S.C. Gwynne for a speaking and signing over his newest book, Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson. Gwynne is a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for his previous work, Empire of the Summer Moon. The speaking portion of the event is free but make sure to purchase tickets in advance for the signing line. You can do so here!
What’s Happening at The Writing Barn
Writing Barn Director, Bethany Hegedus, will teach a six-week class, Perfecting the Picture Book II: A Deeper Understanding, and Draft, Draft, Drafting! The class features lessons by wonderful novelist and picture book author Bethany Hegedus, and students will get a chance to work on their own picture books-in-progress during workshop time. This class will meet on Tuesday nights, beginning October 7 from 7-9PM. Register now at info@thewritingbarn.com
On Tuesday, October 14, we are proud to present the Short Story and Literary Fiction event with NBA finalist Rene Steinke for her workshop What Katherine Anne Porter’s Work Can Do for You. Don’t wait to sign up!
And start thinking ahead towards November! We will have young adult novelist E.M. Kokie with us to present her workshop Narrative Voice: Tips and Tools to Make your Manuscript Sing on Sunday, November 16.