The New Year is upon us and with that comes new book releases, word count resolutions, and literary events.This week is no exception. If one of your goals for 2016 was too be more involved in the Austin Lit Community and seek out more creative outlets, then no fear! There are plenty of greats events this week and in the weeks to come!
Lit City: January 14th – 20th
Thursday, January 14 at 7pm @ Book People, debut author NELLIE SYMM-GRUENDER will be speaking & signing her first novel, Wisdom from the Cup. Come out and support one of Austin’s own local authors who was named Nurse of the Year in Austin, Texas, sailed thousands of miles, and is a glass artist. She has written for nursing and sailing magazines, in addition to writing for COMO Living. Her debut novel Wisdom from the Cup is a wonderfully poignant and often hilarious journey of life through the eyes of Nellie Symm-Gruender, embodied by individual cups selected from her large collection.
Second Thursday Poetry Open Mic with Debra Winegarten will take place January 14th at 7:15 at BookWoman. Debra L. Winegarten is a poet, biographer, and publisher, and is on the faculty of South University. A sociologist by training, Debra is a past president of the Texas Jewish Historical Society. She has written two Jewish-themed poetry books, There’s Jews in Texas?, winner of Poetica Magazine’s 2011 Chapbook Contest, and Where Jewish Grandmothers Come From.
Friday, January 15th at 7pm, go to Malvern Books for an evening with poets Joanna Fuhrman, Yerra Sugarman & Laurie Filipelli. Joanna Fuhrman is the author of five books of poetry, including The Year of Yellow Butterflies (Hanging Loose Press 2015) and Pageant (Alice James Books 2009). She is finishing up her tenure as the poetry editor of Ping Pong. Yerra Sugarman is the author of two poetry collections: Forms of Gone and The Bag of Broken Glass, both published by The Sheep Meadow Press. She received a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and several other awards. Laurie Filipelli is the 
author of a collection of poems, Elseplace, released by BrooklynArts Press in 2013.She is the recipient of a Yaddo fellowship and lives in Austin where she works as a writer, editor, and writing coach.
Former NPR and New York Times correspondent Eric Weiner will be @ Book People, Friday, January 15th at 7pm. He will be speaking about, and signing, his newest work The Geography of Genius, examines the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas, demonstrating how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. Tonight, he’s here to share what he learned from Vienna, Renaissance Florence, Silicon Valley, and beyond.
Join BookPeople on Saturday, January 16th at 7pm for a fabulous evening with dancing electronic violinist and YouTube star Lindsey Stirling. She’ll be here to talk about her new book, The Only Pirate at the Party, and sign books. The speaking portion of the event is free and open to the public. Tickets are required for the signing and now available in-store and via bookpeople.com.
On Tuesday, January 19 at 7pm, Austin American-Statesman Columnist, MICHAEL BARNES will be speaking & signing Indelible Austin: Selected Histories, which collects several dozen of the columns published in the Statesman over the years, preserving many stories which have not been covered in standard histories of Austin. Join BookPeople that night as he shares his work that brings our city’s historical record into the present. Sounds like a great event to honor Austin Writers and the city itself.
On Wednesday the 20th at 7pm, Writing Barn regular Katherine Catmull will be at Book People to speak and sign her newest novel The Radiant Road. Katherine Catmull’s first middle grade novel, Summer and Bird received rave reviews. Her latest novel for young readers, The Radiant Road, is a fast-paced adventure with spellbinding prose combined to weave a tale of love, loyalty, and the strength we carry within ourselves. Katherine will also be The Writing Barn’s February Austin Author Spotlight so come out and support this wonderful Austin Writer and Performer
Upcoming Events and Classes at The Writing Barn
Six Weeks to Success: Analyzing & Writing the Great Commercial Novel with NYT best-selling author, Suzy Spencer:
We all dream of writing the next bestselling novel, and what’s wrong with that? After all, novels are built out of dreams and imagination. But what makes a commercial novel great? A bestseller? In Six Weeks to Success, we’ll break down and analyze the books of some of America’s great commercial novelists— from writers of legal thrillers to romance novelists to mystery writers and more—to learn how 
they made their books addictingly readable.
Write for Your Life: Turning Fact into Fiction with award-winning author Hannah Barnaby and agent Linda Pratt:
We all have touchstone memories, those moments in childhood or young adulthood that changed us and our understanding of the world. Beneath those big moments, though, lies so much more—the sensory minutiae of growing up, smaller moments that were just as important but more easily forgotten. Accessing that deeper layer of material will add vibrancy and resonance to your writing, but how do you get to it? And once you’ve rediscovered it, how do you convert “what really happened” into a compelling piece of fiction? If you are a middle-grade or young adult novelist, this workshop is a unique opportunity to hone your craft. Over four days, faculty will lecture, lead group workshops, and provide individual consultations, all designed to inspire new stories and reinvigorate existing ones.