TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL
There was a resurgence at this year’s Texas Book Festival in Austin this weekend.
Tens of thousands converged on the State Capitol grounds, and Congress Avenue in Austin this weekend during the 18th annual Festival to hear hundreds of authors present their books and take questions from the audience.
Noted authors such as Reza Aslan, Dan Balz, Stephen Harrington, and A. Scott Berg all had presentations.
This book festival featured books of poetry for the first time. Nick Flynn, a much published poet from the University of Houston presented Jenny Brown, Rebecca Gayle Howell and Roger Reeves and their books. Flynn said that poetry does not usually make the best seller lists but also said the big attendance at the Texas Book Festival Sunday, showed that more people are reading poetry than we think. He called this a resurgence of poetry in our culture.
The Texas Book Festival began in 1996 and has been held every fall since then. Former Texas First Lady Laura Bush began the festival to promote literacy in Texas. It has since become nationally known event attracting the attention of CSPAN Book TV, and other national media.