Donate to the Festival
In addition to producing one of the most respected and engaging book festivals in the country that is entirely free to the public, the Texas Book Festival is a year-round organization that has given more than $2.3 million in grants to Texas public libraries and has reached more than 35,000 students in low-income schools by introducing them to some of the nation's best kid's writers and giving them a signed copy of the author's book, often the first new book that is their own. Please consider making a donation to the Festival to help us continue to produce an excellent book festival as we remain a vital resource for Texas libraries and literacy.
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What We're Reading
The 2009 Festival is over, but the TBF staff is still catching up with some excellent 2009 reads. Published after the 2009 Festival, the third of Mary Karr's memoirs, Lit, was named one of the top ten books of 2009 by the New York Times Sunday Book Review and one of the top ten non-fiction books of 2009 by Time. All of Karr’s memoirs (The Liar's Club and Cherry) are notable for her ability to delve humorously and frankly into all personal aspects of her life while imparting insights into life that are universal. "I know God wanted me to write this book,” Karr told Fresh Air host Terry Gross when Lit was published. “That doesn't mean he wants it to be a best-seller, you know? But something about surrendering a lot of that stuff, it just quiets the fear in my head. It just quiets it."
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Reading Rock Stars in San Antonio 2009
On November 20th, the Festival’s Reading Rock Stars program returned to San Antonio's Ogden and Rogers elementary schools with authors Diane Gonzales Bertrand and Benjamin Alire Sáenz. After studying the authors and their books (Upside Down and Backwards by Gonzales Bertrand and A Perfect Season for Dreaming by Sáenz), the 1,330 students were delighted to meet the authors and hear them speak about reading and writing. Each child then received a new, signed copy of a book donated by the Festival - often the first book they’ve owned. “The only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home,” according to The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions. The Reading Rock Stars program is in its 10th year, and has served more than 35,000 Texas children.
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