Each year, Texas Book Festival presents the Texas Writer Award — formerly known as the Bookend Award — to an esteemed writer in recognition of outstanding contributions to Texas literature. TBF’s Author Selection Committees consider adult fiction and nonfiction writers, children’s book authors, journalists, and screenwriters when nominating candidates for the award. Nominees are evaluated on originality, literary achievement, and the impact of their body of work. The award recipient is honored during a public session at the Texas Book Festival.

2026 Recipient

David Bowles headshot 2022 827x1024

David Bowles is a Mexican American writer and translator from South Texas, where he teaches literature and Nahuatl as a professor at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. Among his more than forty award-winning books are They Call Me Güero; My Two Border Towns; Ancient Night; Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Maya Poetry; The Prince & the Coyote; and Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico. His work has also been published in multiple anthologies and textbooks, plus venues such as The New York Times, The Emancipator, School Library Journal, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children’s Literature. In 2019, he co-founded the hashtag and activist movement #DignidadLiteraria, which successfully fought for greater Latinx representation in publishing. He is a past president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

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Previous Recipients