by Arielle Avila
The change of the season calls for fresh perspectives, and what better way than by picking up a new book? This week in Austin, critically acclaimed authors and poets will be visiting to share their remarkable stories and narratives with us. There’s something for everyone – whether you’re looking for a new fantasy novel to escape your daily routine or a historical thriller to go back in time. Those are just some of the books being featured this week in Austin’s literary community. Here’s what’s in store from September 10-16.
Lit City:
What’s Happening in the Austin Book World Sept. 10 – Sept. 16
Thursday, September 10 at 7PM @ Book People, Critically Acclaimed Artist Mark Menjivar
will be speaking & signing The Luck Archive: Exploring Belief, Superstition, and Tradition. Menjivar’s book follows his multiyear traveling experience and explores the concept of luck and how it
relates to belief, culture, superstition, and tradition in people’s lives.
Friday, September 11 at 7PM @ Book People, BookPeople and the New Writers Project Present PEN/Faulkner Finalist T. Geronimo Johnson who will be speaking & signing Welcome to Braggsville. Johnson’s book tells a story of four UC Berkley students who stage a dramatic protest during a Civil War reenactment.
Also Friday, September 11 at 7PM @ Malvern Books, Wendy Barker, author of Lunacy of Light: Emily Dickinson and the Experience of Metaphor (as well as numerous collections of her own poetry) will discuss On Rats, Bombs, and Volcanoes: The Power of Emily Dickinson’s Subversions Amherst where she analyzes the poet’s use of metaphor to challenge nineteenth-century restrictions on women.
Saturday, Sep 12 at 7PM @ Malvern Books, Writers Emily Bludworth de Barrios, Tyler Gobble, and Ben Kopel will be reading excerpts from their work. Emily Bludworth de Barrios is the author of a book of poems from H_NGM_N Books, and Extraordinary Power, a chapbook from Factory Hollow Press. Tyler Gobble is currently a poetry fellow at the Michener Center and has chapbooks such as MORE WRECK MORE WRECK available from Coconut Books. Ben Kopel is the author of VICTORY from H_NGM_N Books, and he is currently working on a new full-length collection.
Sunday, September 13 at 2PM @ Book People, Bestselling Author of The Day The Crayons Quit
Drew Daywalt will be speaking & signing The Day the Crayons Came Home. The speaking portion of this event is free and open to the public. Wristbands are required for the signing and available with the purchase of a copy of The Day the Crayons Came Home from BookPeople. Distributions of wristbands start at 9:00AM the morning of the event.
Also on Sunday, September 13 at 5:30PM @ Book Woman, Paige Schilt launches her book QUEER ROCK LOVE: A Family Memoir. Schilt’s book breaks stereotypes to show the possibility of self- and family-making given the limits of a world that is only allegedly “getting better.”
Tuesday, September 15 at 7PM @ Book People Bestselling Author of Watergate Thomas Mallon will be speaking & signing Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years. Mallon’s novel focuses on the still-hotly-debated years of Reagan’s presidency when the lasting convulsions of the Cold War, the beginning of AIDS, and a political revolution were in effect.
Also on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 10:30AM @ Book People The talented Early Childhood Development faculty members from the Armstrong Community School will be presenting Music School Storytime. An Armstrong teacher will engage your child with music and movement, plus they’ll read some stories for you too! This session is perfect for kids up to 6 years old.
Wednesday, September 16 at 7PM @ Book People Bestselling YA Author Mari Mancusi will be speaking & signing Smoked This is the last of Mancusi’s Scorched series which follows Team Dragon through this fantasy whirlwind.
Upcoming Events and Classes at The Writing Barn
We are now offering a NEW day class entitled, Doodling for Writers and Those Who Aspire to Write with Carin Channing. It takes place September 20th, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. Join this group session, where we’ll use our visual tools (NO art experience or skill necessary! We love stick figures!) to explore our writer archetypes, our ideal reader, our fears and creative blocks, and our visions for ourselves as we traverse the Hero’s Journey of writing!
Are you in the picture book submission trenches? Have you learned the basics of page-turns, word count, word play? Are you writing material you’d love feedback on from expert eyes? Are you ready to take your work to the next level? If so, join us this fall as master teacher Liz Garton Scanlon returns to The Writing Barn to facilitate a 6 Week Picture Book Workshop for Intermediate to Advanced picture book writers. Classes take place on Wednesday nights from 7:00 to 9:00pm. Dates of the classes are: 10/7, 10/14,10/21, skipping 10/28, 11/4, 11/11, and 11/18.
Are you thinking about submitting to the 24th annual Austin Chronicle Short Story contest? What would happen if there was a class where you could work on your existing short story or compose something new, get feedback on your piece, fine tune your craft, experience community – all with the goal of working toward publication. Like a gymnast’s routine, crafting a short story requires a great opening, vivid details, escalating tension, a perfectly choreographed climax, and nailing the ending. In this six-week class, Lindsey Lane and Shelli Cornelison will help writers craft and polish a 2500-word piece ready to submit to the Austin Chronicle. The first class is on October 27, 2015 so sign up now to get those stories ready for Fall.