What’s Going on in the Austin Book World Feb. 25th – Mar. 2nd

With this month winding down, make sure to give yourself the time to enjoy Austin’s February Book Events! From Malvern Book’s I Scream Social, to the reading of Little Bitty Friends, there are tons of events this week for all ages!

Thursday, Feb. 25 (7 PM) @ BookPeople, enjoy bestselling author Brandon Sanderson speaking and signing Calamity, the final book in his young adult series, Reckoners!

Thursday, Feb. 25 (7 PM) @ Malvern Books, enjoy W. Joe’s Poetry Corner with Abe Louise Young, independent writer, educator, and justice advocate.

Friday, Feb. 26 (7 PM) @ Malvern Books, enjoy the I Scream Social: Galentine’s Day Edition, featuring young women poets and fiction writers from the Austin community.

Friday, Feb. 26 (7 PM) @ BookPeople, MysteryPeople presents Minerva Koenig and Trudy Nan Boyce speaking and signing South of Nowhere and Out of the Blues.

Saturday, Feb. 27 (2-3 PM) @ Malvern Books, enjoy The Lion and The Pirate Unplugged, and open mic for writers and musicians suitable for performers of all ages and abilities.

Saturday, Feb. 27 (1130 AM) @ BookPeople, enjoy Special Storytime with illustrator Patrice Barton and her new book, Little Bitty Friends.

Sunday, Feb. 28 (2 PM) @ BookPeople, enjoy award-winning Austin author Babette Hughes speaking and signing Searching for Vivian.

Tuesday, Mar. 1 (1030 AM) @ BookPeople, enjoy reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other stories by the brilliant Eric Carle at BookPeople’s Eric Carle Storytime! 

Tuesday, Mar. 1 (7 PM) @ BookPeople, enjoy Austin author J.K. George speaking and signing Contact Sport: A Story of Champions, Airwaves, and a One Day Race Around the World.

Wednesday, Mar. 2 (7 PM) @ Austin Public Library, Spicewood Springs Branch presents their own Mystery Book Group, a place to mingle with other book lovers, discover new genres, and enjoy the Austin Public Library.

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.

Language is the Story with Visiting Author David Elliott (PB to Adult):

This evening lecture/class is for ALL genres of Writing. From Picture Books to Adult Novels.In an NPR interview after the publication of Heir to the Glimmering World, Cynthia Ozick noted that the life of a novel is in the language. While Ozick was speaking of adult novels, this important concept is also true for work written exclusively for young people. This lecture/discussion will explore what Ozick might have meant by looking closely at the language of Carolyn Coman’s What Jamie Saw, Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting, M.T. Anderson’s Feed, and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. We’ll pay particular attention to sentence structure and variety, syntax, diction and punctuation. Time permitting, the workshop will conclude with an exercise meant to sensitize participants to their own use of language in the stories they are telling. It is suggested that participants bring copies of the books we will examine.