In What Americans Really Want … Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears, Luntz disassembles the preconceived notions we have about one another and lays all the pieces of the American condition out in front of us, openly and honestly, then puts the pieces back together in a way that reflects the society in which we live. Luntz is one of the most respected communications professionals in America today. The go-to guy for Fortune 500 CEOs, he is the first resource media outlets turn to when they want to understand the American public.

Introducer Karen Frost handles all aspects of public relations, but her specialty is national media placements, such as The New York Times, NPR and Oprah. A powerhouse in PR and business, Frost was named a Profile in Power in 2006 and the business/entrepreneurial winner of AustinUnder40 in 2008. Frost has also been a media consultant for Senator Ted Kennedy, a producer for CBS News, and managed the press room for the Perot ’92 presidential campaign.

In What Americans Really Want … Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears, Luntz disassembles the preconceived notions we have about one another and lays all the pieces of the American condition out in front of us, openly and honestly, then puts the pieces back together in a way that reflects the society in which we live. Luntz is one of the most respected communications professionals in America today. The go-to guy for Fortune 500 CEOs, he is the first resource media outlets turn to when they want to understand the American public.

Introducer Karen Frost handles all aspects of public relations, but her specialty is national media placements, such as The New York Times, NPR and Oprah. A powerhouse in PR and business, Frost was named a Profile in Power in 2006 and the business/entrepreneurial winner of AustinUnder40 in 2008. Frost has also been a media consultant for Senator Ted Kennedy, a producer for CBS News, and managed the press room for the Perot ’92 presidential campaign.

Skippy knows – from his big ears to his toes – that the planet Mars is red because it's covered in spicy red pepper. To prove it, he's off on a space jaunt replete with craters, crazies, and creatures from Mars. Schachner's Skippyjon Jones won the first E. B. White Read Aloud Book Award.

Following Bridge of Sighs—a national bestseller hailed by The Boston Globe as "an astounding achievement" and "a masterpiece"—Richard Russo gives us the story of a marriage, and of all the other ties that bind, from parents and in-laws to children and the promises of youth. That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter's new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has.

Khotan Shahbazi-Harmon, who will introduce Russo at the session, is the host of the popular radio talk show “Idea Lounge” on KOOP 91.7 F.M. Khotan is also a guest lecturer on media and religion at the University of Texas-Austin and the past co-host of the radio show "Writing on the Air".

Many know the sensationalistic story of Bonnie and Clyde, but few know the truth behind the tall tale. Jeff Guinn will discuss his latest book, Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, on Saturday morning at the Texas Book Festival.Guinn combines exhaustive research with surprising, newly discovered material to tell the real tale of two kids from a filthy Dallas slum who fell in love and then willingly traded their lives for a brief interlude of excitement and, more importantly, fame. An award-winning investigative journalist and former Books Editor and Senior Writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he is a frequent guest on national radio and television programs.

Austin writer, raconteur and former first-grade Valentine Queen Mary Gordon Spence, who will introduce Jeff Guinn, grew up reading those orange biographies, but stories about Bonnie and Clyde weren't included. She can't wait to find out the real story from author Jeff Guinn. 

William Kamkwamba, the co-author and subject of Bryan Mealer's new book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. But William had read about windmills in a book called Using Energy, and he dreamed of building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and change his life and the lives of those around him. Mealer, Odessa native and former editor at Esquire, will discuss Kamkwamba's inspiring story at the session. Introducer Chris Tomlinson is the managing editor of the Texas Observer, a statewide, non-profit investigative magazine based in Austin.

Co-authors Jack Graves and Gerald Saxon offer a breathtaking view of Texas rarely seen let alone presented in photographs. To gain full perspective on the influence of the land on the people of Texas, you really have to take to the air—and the authors of Historic Texas from the Air have done just that. In this entirely unprecedented book, dramatic aerial photography provides a complete panorama of 73 historic sites from around the state, showing them in extensive geographic context and revealing details unavailable to a ground-based observer. Graves, Jr. is a businessman with a passion for flying, photography, and history. Saxon is Dean of the Library at the University of Texas at Arlington and also Associate Professor of History.

Introducer Oliver Franklin, a seventh-generation Texan, has been in the arts and history field for over 18 years. After receiving an M.A. in Geography at UT, work led him to the Rio Grande Valley and then back to Austin. Most recently, he was Executive Curator for Public Programs at the Harry Ransom Center. His consulting company now produces cultural programming and events in Austin, San Antonio, and Central Texas.

Brown will launch her first novella, Rainwater, a moving story set in Depression-era Texas, based on a true story Brown's father once told her. Rainwater tells a story that bears witness to a bittersweet truth: that love is worth whatever price one must pay for it. Brown is the recipient of the 2008 Thriller Master Award from International Thriller Writers, Inc. Moderator Cyndi Hughes is the executive director of the Writers' League of Texasand served as the director of the Texas Book Festival from 1996 to 2003.

Brown will launch her first novella, Rainwater, a moving story set in Depression-era Texas, based on a true story Brown's father once told her. Rainwater tells a story that bears witness to a bittersweet truth: that love is worth whatever price one must pay for it. Brown is the recipient of the 2008 Thriller Master Award from International Thriller Writers, Inc. Moderator Cyndi Hughes is the executive director of the Writers' League of Texasand served as the director of the Texas Book Festival from 1996 to 2003.

Students from elementary, middle, and high schools in Central Texas read their original poems and stories from the Youth Voices in Ink Anthology. Youth Voices in Ink is published by Badgerdog Literary Publishing, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to publish and to teach. Through Badgerdog’s Education Programming, these student readers have developed their craft by working with some of Austin’s most talented writers. Beloved children's writer Rene Saldana Jr. will speak during this session about how he became a writer and on the importance of engaging children in fun reading and writing.

As she strolls through her barrio, a young girl introduces readers to the frozen, fruit-flavored treat that thrills Mexican and Mexican-American children. Create a masterpiece, make tough choices (strawberry or coconut?), or cool off on a warm summer's day - there's so much to do with a paleta. Beloved children's writer Carmen Tafolla will bring her latest kid's book What Can You Do with a Paleta? to life during the kick-off session in the Read Me a Story Tent.

One of the funniest and most beloved kids' writers and one of the nation's rising talents in kids' books will discuss their latest works Saturday morning at the Texas Book Festival. Jon Scieszka is the author of Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man, and many other books that inspire kids to want to read. His latest kids' book, Robot Zot!, a tale of a quixotic robot determined to conquer the earth. Mac Barnett is the author of The Case of the Case of the Mistaken Identity as well as the picture book, Guess Again! Barnett is the program director of a nonprofit organization that supports students' creative and expository writing skills called 826LA.

One of the funniest and most beloved kids' writers and one of the nation's rising talents in kids' books will discuss their latest works Saturday morning at the Texas Book Festival. Jon Scieszka is the author of Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man, and many other books that inspire kids to want to read. His latest kids' book, Robot Zot!, a tale of a quixotic robot determined to conquer the earth. Mac Barnett is the author of The Case of the Case of the Mistaken Identity as well as the picture book, Guess Again! Barnett is the program director of a nonprofit organization that supports students' creative and expository writing skills called 826LA.

Colin Beavan's No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process reveals how confounding it is to live an entirely eco-friendly life. After realizing that complaining about environmental damage wasn't doing any good, Beavan begins a journey of "no impact" and makes his family (a wife, a toddler, and a dog) take the journey as well.

Moderator Sam Martin is the senior editor at frog design and the editor-in-chief of design mind magazine. He is the author of seven books of nonfiction. His biography on the sustainable building pioneer, Pliny Fisk III, is due out in 2010. 

Up to a thousand students pack the Harvard campus theater to hear Michael J. Sandel relate the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day, and this fall, public television will air a series based on the course. Sandel will his new book on the subject, Justice: What Is the Right Thing To Do? at the Paramount Theatre on Saturday morning. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1980, and the author of many books. Introducer Lawrence Sager is one of the nation's preeminent constitutional theorists and scholars and is the dean of the School of Law at the University of Texas.

Up to a thousand students pack the Harvard campus theater to hear Michael J. Sandel relate the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day, and this fall, public television will air a series based on the course. Sandel will his new book on the subject, Justice: What Is the Right Thing To Do? at the Paramount Theatre on Saturday morning. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1980, and the author of many books. Introducer Lawrence Sager is one of the nation's preeminent constitutional theorists and scholars and is the dean of the School of Law at the University of Texas.

"A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down," poet Edna St. Vincent Millay once wrote. "If it is a good book, nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book, nothing can help him." Whether or not a writer's style is confessional, most writers don't tend to live entirely open, public lives, for one reason: any good writer is too busy observing, listening, and writing to live a Madonna-like life. Or is that always the case? Truman Capote, for example, balanced a very public life and his writing life not perfectly, but at least reasonably, well. Investigating the daily life of a renowned writer is a tricky thing - the history of publishing is rife with writers who actively destroyed records of their mistakes. With bios being published this year of Donald Barthelme, John Cheever, Emily Dickinson, and Flannery O'Connor, 2009 is a bonanza year for fans of literary biographies. We've assembled four of the country's most accomplished biographers (see the list below) to talk about their latest books. Moderator Dwight Garner is a daily book critic for The New York Times.

In brilliant four-color illustrations, Sid Jacobson, one of America's most accomplished graphic novelists, tells Prince Vlad Dracula’s life story from his seizure as a boy by the Turkish Sultan, to his love life, to his maniacal attempts to retain power regardless of whose throat he slit. At this session, Jacobson will be showing off his graphic novel, Vlad the Impaler, based on a true story and replete with gory details of torture tactics.

Moderator Dave Shaw is president of Russell/Shaw, an integrated marketing firm in Austin. Clients include Southwest Airlines, H-E-B and AOL. He has been a guest speaker in the University of Texas at Austin Department of Advertising, and appeared on panels for the Public Relations Society of America, American Marketing Association and the National Communications Association. In the community, Dave has served as a board member of the Austin Public Library Foundation, Leadership Austin, Greenlights for NonProfit Success, and the UT College of Communication Alumni Advisory Council.

With exuberance and humor to spare, Laurie Halse Anderson and Ard Hoyt, the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, tease up a terrific tale of hairy hijinks, classroom chaos, and the importance of teachers and students learning to work together in The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School. Ard Hoyt has illustrated a number of books, including Utterly Otterly Day, One-Dog Canoe, Saying Goodbye to Lulu, When the Cows Got Loose, and the New York Times bestseller I'm a Manatee by John Lithgow.

Ten years ago, Marina Marchese fell in love with bees during a tour of a neighbor's honeybee hives. Today, her company Red Bee Honey sells artisanal honey and honey-related products to shops and restaurants all over the country including the BLT Café at the Ritz-Carlton in New York. Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper is not only a warm and inspiring story of one woman's intimate experience with honeybees (arguably the most industrious creatures on earth) but it's bursting with fascinating and practical information about all aspects of bees. Marchese will be telling her story and handing out samples of her artisanal honey during this session.

A tenderly written story, with Spanish words woven throughout, tells readers how Mami is eating healthy food, Papi is building a rocking chair, Abuela is painting elefantes and tigres, in the nursery, and brother and sister are helping with baby names. With its vibrant and warm illustrations, this debut picture book is perfect for expectant parents or children curious about the time before they were here.

This session will begin by honoring and recognizing the 2009 winners of the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award sponsored by the College of Education at Texas State University-San Marcos. This literary prize was named in honor of Tomás Rivera, a Texas State Distinguished Alumnus, who is known and highly respected for his literary works, as well as, his tireless efforts to improve the educational opportunities of Mexican Americans in the United States. Following, three distinguished Mexican American authors who are past and present award recipients, Francisco Jiménez, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, and Carmen Tafolla, will engage the audience with their stories that authentically reflect the Mexican American experience of young adults through their own selected genres (autobiography, contemporary fiction, and short story collection) and display their individual literary talents. Moderators Jennifer Battle and Jesse Gainer are faculty members in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Revered historian Taylor Branch's The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President rests upon a secret project, initiated by Clinton, to preserve for future historians an unfiltered record of presidential experience. Branch is also the bestselling author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (which won the Pulitzer Prize). Paul Stekler, an award-winning documentary film maker and professor at the University of Texas, will introduce Branch in the session.

Following a circle of family and friends through the course of a day from morning till night, this book affirms the importance of all things great and small in our world, from the tiniest shell on the beach, to warm family connections, to the widest sunset sky. Liz Scanlon will present All the World at the Children's Chapter Read Me a Story tent.  

Parents are more worried then ever about their children, and conflicting reports in the media and rumors on the playground can cause even more confusion about which products are perfectly safe and which are harmful, or even deadly. Dr. Cara Natterson – a top pediatrician and mom herself – outlines these threats in Dangerous or Safe?: Which Foods, Medicines, and Chemicals Really Put Your Kids at Risk and provides parents with concrete answers on what foods, chemicals, and medicines pose real danger to kids. Dr. Natterson will show parents how to maximize their children's health and safety during this session.

Revered historian Taylor Branch's The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President rests upon a secret project, initiated by Clinton, to preserve for future historians an unfiltered record of presidential experience. Branch is also the bestselling author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (which won the Pulitzer Prize). Paul Stekler, an award-winning documentary film maker and professor at the University of Texas, will introduce Branch in the session.

Known in their day as the Big Four, Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson were all from modest backgrounds, and all became patriarchs of the wealthiest oil families in Texas. As a class they came to be known as the Big Rich, and together they created a new legend in America—the swaggering Texas oilman who owns private islands, sprawling ranches and perhaps a football team or two, and mingles with presidents and Hollywood stars. Burrough is a special correspondent at Vanity Fair and the author of three previous books, including Public Enemies, which was released as a movie this summer.

ZZ Packer argues that "the more race is not supposed to matter, the more it
does." Yet, if an artist writes "ABOUT RACE," to borrow Colson Whitehead's
phrase, how does that subject influence the author's aesthetic choices? How does writing about race shape critical and popular response to the fictional works of black writers?  Two contemporary literary artists, Packer and Whitehead, will be talking during this session about what it means to be African American writers in (supposedly) post-racial America and how they negotiate the conundrums of race and critical reception. Moderator Walton Muyumba is the author of The Shadow and the Act: Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism. Muyumba is an associate professor of American and African-American literature at the University of North Texas.

The Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award was established in 1995 by the College of Education at Texas State University-San Marcos to honor and encourage authors, illustrators, and publishers of books that authentically reflect the lives of Mexican American children and young adults in the United States. The creation of the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award in Dr. Rivera's honor keeps alive his legacy in literature and works towards sustaining the vision he saw for the education of Mexican Americans in the United States. This award raises conscious awareness among parents, teachers, and librarians of this distinguished literature so it can inspire, entertain, and educate all children both at home and at school.

We all have our own heroes, but in kid's books, children characters often have to become their own heroes to confront the challenges they face. Boys, in particular, have to muster the mental strength to become the person they know they need to be - it's often very difficult to become that person, however. These three writers will talk about the complex characters (and heroes) they've created with moderator Joanna Nigrelli, who is the youth librarian at the Terrazas Branch of the Austin Public Library.

The Texas Book Festival is honored to host the announcement of the Master List for the Texas Bluebonnet Award for the second year in a row.Those lucky enough to be in the Read Me a Story tent will be the first to hear the new titles selected for the Master List! As an added bonus, Jon Scieszka, author of the beloved Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man and Mac Barnett, author of The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, will announce the titles of the 2010-11 Texas Bluebonnet Master List. Come join the fun!

Brown has every ambitious bride-to-be wanting to emulate the celebrity-style weddings covered in his new book, Donnie Brown Weddings: From the Couture to the Cake. He offers detailed tips in all areas of the process, including buying the gown, booking the venue, and creating the menu. In this session, Brown, charismatic host of Style Network's Whose Wedding is it Anyway?, will offer helpful advice to anyone with a wedding in their future.

Picking up where her previous successful and highly lauded book, America's Women, left off, in When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present Gail Collins recounts the sea-change American women have experienced since 1960. Collins was the Editorial Page Editor for The New York Times from 2001-2007 – the first woman to have held that position. Sylvia Acevedo, Founder, President, and CEO of CommuniCard LLC, will introduce Collins at the session. 

Writing about yourself when someone is actually going to read your writing is trickier than it may seem. Which aspects of your life do you reveal, which do you not? How do you write about other people who may not want to be written about? What are the impulses behind digging into your past and why did these writers listen to those impulses? We've gathered three thoughtful and gutsy women (see below) to be in conversation about writing about oneself. Carol Dawson, author of four critically-acclaimed novels including The Mother in-Law Diaries, will moderate the session.

Calvin Littlejohn died in 1993, but his legacy to generations to come is a collection of photographs of "a racially segregated Texas community during an era of rapid change." Bob Ray Sanders' Calvin Littlejohn: Portrait of a Community in Black and White combines Littlejohn's photos of events, gatherings, and everyday life in segregated Ft. Worth with the photographer's own words. Sanders is a 30-year veteran of the journalism world who has worked in television and radio as well as newspapers.

Moderator Dr. Don Carleton is a historian who has served as Executive Director of UT-Austin’s Dolph Briscoe Center for American History since 1979. He is Editor of the Focus on American History series at the University of Texas Press and the author of five books. His current project, which will be published in fall 2010, is Conversations with Cronkite, a book-length oral history interview with the late CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite.

In Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis - and Lost, Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami; he'll be talking about the book during this session and how some of the financial industry's high-ranking officials became his sources. Sorkin is the award-winning chief mergers and acquisitions reporter for The New York Times, a columnist, and assistant editor of business and finance news.

Moderator Brian D. Sweany is the deputy editor of Texas Monthly magazine. He started out as an intern in the publisher's office of Texas Monthly in January 1996 and was hired as a copy editor in the editorial department later that year. Born and raised outside of Dallas, Sweany earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of North Texas, in Denton, and a master's degree in English literature from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Sweany has also served as an assistant professor in the journalism department at Ithaca College, in New York. He is active in a number of civic and volunteer organizations, including serving on the board of the Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas and coaching his daughter's six-and-under soccer team.

In Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis - and Lost, Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami; he'll be talking about the book during this session and how some of the financial industry's high-ranking officials became his sources. Sorkin is the award-winning chief mergers and acquisitions reporter for The New York Times, a columnist, and assistant editor of business and finance news.

Moderator Brian D. Sweany is the deputy editor of Texas Monthly magazine. He started out as an intern in the publisher's office of Texas Monthly in January 1996 and was hired as a copy editor in the editorial department later that year. Born and raised outside of Dallas, Sweany earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of North Texas, in Denton, and a master's degree in English literature from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Sweany has also served as an assistant professor in the journalism department at Ithaca College, in New York. He is active in a number of civic and volunteer organizations, including serving on the board of the Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas and coaching his daughter's six-and-under soccer team.

The year is 1899, and the Travelin' Nine are barnstorming their way across the good ol' U.S. of A., trying to raise money to pay off the Payne family's big-league debt. The question is: are they in over their heads? If they don't watch out, Griffith, Ruby, Graham, and the Travelin' Nine may find themselves in deep water in the Land of 10,000 Lakes! Phil Bildner will take the stage in the Children's Chapter Read Me a Story tent as he reads Game Four: Water, Water Everywhere, the fourth book in his New York Times bestselling Sluggers series.

The four writers featured in this session (see below) explore provocative, surreal realms in their latest works. Fiction is meant to set our imaginations on fire, but these writers take their works to the next level as they engross us in new, wholly invented worlds where anything can happen. James Magnuson, author of eight novels, including Windfall and The Hounds of Winter, will moderate the session.

We've gathered some of the most vibrant and praised tween lit published this year. The writers on this panel will talk about writing for fourth to sixth graders and the joys and challenges of that work. Check out the writers' pages below.

Moderator Dr. Joan Shiring currently coordinates the Secondary English Preservice Program at The University of Texas at Austin. A former high-school English teacher, she co-directed UT's "Austin Writing Project" for five years and currently teaches a graduate course in literature for young adults.

The Texas Book Festival is collaborating with Literary Death Match, a genre-busting performative reading that features four authors, three all-star judges, and a non-literary harebrained finale to decide the final winner. The event invites audiences, authors, actors and others to talk about literature, often with hilarious and profound results. Literary Death Match is a mix of four writers who perform their most electric work (in 8 minutes or less) before an audience and a panel of three judges. After a pair of electric readings, the judges take turns spouting affectionate, off-the-wall commentary about each story, each focusing on one of the three categories: literary merit, performance and intangibles (also, meanness is never a factor, as judges are there for non-sequiturs and comedy, not serious critique). They then select their favorite of the two writers to advance to the finals. And for the finale, we trade in the show's literary sensibility for an absurdly comical climax to decide who takes home the Literary Death Match crown (which is invisible). It may sound like a circus — that's the point. Owen Egerton, Richard Russo, and Jane Smiley will judge the brave efforts of Kyle Beachy, Amelia Gray, Jeff Martin, and Jason Sheehan.

Literary Death Match emcee Erin Hosier is a literary agent with Dunow, Carlson & Lerner, specializing in memoir, music biography and humor. She has been co-hosting the Literary Death Match with Opium founder Todd Zuniga in New York and L.A. since 2008.

Like all kids, Little Diego and his big sister Gabriela argue over their new dog Sofie. She belongs to me, says Diego. No, she's mine, says Gabriela. It's only when Sofie gets really sick that they find out who their tortilla-loving pup really belongs to. Benjamin Alire Sáenz will read from his bilingual book for kids and dogs and even their parents, The Dog Who Loved Tortillas, in the Children's Chapter Read Me a Story tent.

For years, plants have been subordinate to the architecture to which they are juxtaposed, mere ornaments dwarfed by structures that receive priority. Scott and Lauren Springer Ogden's Plant-Driven Design: Creating Gardens that Honor Plants, Place, and Spirit advocates giving plants the place of honor they deserve and making gardens the places of personal connection they should be. In this session, the Ogdens will discuss how to properly treat your garden as a living, growing being rather than a static decoration given the minimum of maintenance.

Harold Evans' My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times begins in wartime Britain as the bombs fall; his father is out in the darkness driving munitions trains, and he himself is a schoolboy who will be denied a high school education. Who could have imagined that he would become the editor of the two most famous newspapers in England, the Sunday Times and The Times, and in mid-career come to New York to become a bestselling historian with The American Century and later head Random House, the largest trade publisher. Evans will talk about his career and the perilous state of American journalism during this session, which is co-presented with The Daily Beast. Bryan Curtis, senior editor at The Daily Beast and writer-at-large at Texas Monthly, will moderate.

Each case outlined in Sex, Murder, and the Unwritten Law: Courting Judicial Mayhem, Texas Style details the flux in the South's beloved honor code from the 1890s to the 1920s, illustrating its varied usage; the influence of illicit sex on justifiable murder was always at center stage. Neal is a former lawyer who practiced in West Texas for 40 years and at one point served as Briefing Attorney for the Texas Supreme Court.

Harold Evans' My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times begins in wartime Britain as the bombs fall; his father is out in the darkness driving munitions trains, and he himself is a schoolboy who will be denied a high school education. Who could have imagined that he would become the editor of the two most famous newspapers in England, the Sunday Times and The Times, and in mid-career come to New York to become a bestselling historian with The American Century and later head Random House, the largest trade publisher. Evans will talk about his career and the perilous state of American journalism during this session, which is co-presented with The Daily Beast. Bryan Curtis, senior editor at The Daily Beast and writer-at-large at Texas Monthly, will moderate.

Glenda Facemire's Music in the Kitchen: Favorite Recipes from Austin City Limits Performers offers a unique, highly flavorful way to connect with ACL through the recipes of some 130 artists who've appeared on its stage. Facemire is the Head Makeup Artist for Austin City Limits, where she has worked since 1989. Musicians Sara Hickman and Kevin Welch will talk with ACL producer Terry Lickona and Facemire about their favorite recipes and the connection between music, creativity, and cooking.

In Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis. In this high-tech world of modern medicine, Sanders shows us that knowledge, while essential, is not sufficient to unravel the complexities of illness. She presents an unflinching look inside the detective story that marks nearly every illness – the diagnosis – revealing the combination of uncertainty and intrigue that doctors face when confronting patients who are sick or dying.

Introducer Karen Frost handles all aspects of public relations, but her specialty is national media placements, such as The New York Times, NPR and Oprah. A powerhouse in PR and business, Frost was named a Profile in Power in 2006 and the business/entrepreneurial winner of AustinUnder40 in 2008. Frost has also been a media consultant for Senator Ted Kennedy, a producer for CBS News, and managed the press room for the Perot ’92 presidential campaign. 

In Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis. In this high-tech world of modern medicine, Sanders shows us that knowledge, while essential, is not sufficient to unravel the complexities of illness. She presents an unflinching look inside the detective story that marks nearly every illness – the diagnosis – revealing the combination of uncertainty and intrigue that doctors face when confronting patients who are sick or dying.

Introducer Karen Frost handles all aspects of public relations, but her specialty is national media placements, such as The New York Times, NPR and Oprah. A powerhouse in PR and business, Frost was named a Profile in Power in 2006 and the business/entrepreneurial winner of AustinUnder40 in 2008. Frost has also been a media consultant for Senator Ted Kennedy, a producer for CBS News, and managed the press room for the Perot ’92 presidential campaign. 

In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds – there's only a 2 percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful – Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia. Rinella is also the author of The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine and a correspondent for Outside magazine. Introducer W.K. Stratton's books include Boxing Shadows; Backyard Brawl, a reflection on the rivalry between the University of Texas and Texas A&M; and Chasing the Rodeo, which explores the myths and realities of the modern-day rodeo.  

In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds – there's only a 2 percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful – Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia. Rinella is also the author of The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine and a correspondent for Outside magazine. Introducer W.K. Stratton's books include Boxing Shadows; Backyard Brawl, a reflection on the rivalry between the University of Texas and Texas A&M; and Chasing the Rodeo, which explores the myths and realities of the modern-day rodeo.  

Two books published this year are fascinating explorations of the damage that hurricanes have done to the Texas coast - Mary Jo O'Rear and photographer Bryan Carlile will talk about the human costs of hurricane damage - both past and present -on the Texas coast during this session.

Moderator Kodi Sawin, principal of the Sawin Group, works with various issues related to rural economies, in particular agriculture, natural resources, and public policy. She also serves on the board of the Austin Bat Cave, a creative writing center for children.

The Bow Wow Reading Dogs program is based on the Intermountain Therapy Reading Education Assistance Dogs program, and improves children's reading and communication skills by employing a powerful method: reading to a dog. Registered therapy dogs and their handlers from Austin Dog Alliance will share stories to encourage children to enjoy reading at the Children's Demonstration & Activity Tent on Sunday.

Meet Marge and Lola, chickens on a mission: to win tickets for the Elvis Poultry Show! But their toughest competition—a pack of menacing ducks—sneers that "all a chicken can do is bawk, flap, and shake." Can our two feisty chicks show those quackers how to rock 'n' roll the barnyard?