Announcing our 2018 Festival Friends Pass sessions!

If you have a Festival Friends Pass, you’ll enjoy priority access to seating and to signing lines for the below sessions at this year’s Texas Book Festival. If you don’t have a Festival Friends Pass, you can become a Festival Friend right now! 

How to Use Your Festival Friends Pass

Already have your Festival Friends Pass? Thanks so much for supporting the Festival! Here is how to use your Festival Friends Pass at the 2018 Texas Book Festival:

• Where Your Friends Pass Applies:  Your Friends Pass grants you priority seating and access to signing lines at select sessions. It does not give you this access at all sessions and signings. See below for the sessions where your Festival Friends Pass apply.
• When you arrive at a Festival Friends Pass session:  Show the volunteer at the door your Pass. They’ll show you to your reserved seating.
• When you arrive at a Festival Friends Pass signing:  Show the volunteer at the signing your Pass. They’ll put you in a special Friends Pass line to have your books signed first.

The Texas Book Festival brings culture, art, and literature to Texas for free thanks to generous donors, and as the 2018 Texas Book Festival approaches, we are once again asking for your support. Become a 2018 Festival Friend by donating $100 or more, and you’ll make a crucial difference in our communities by helping us keep arts and culture accessible for readers in Austin and across Texas.

We thank all our Festival Friends donors with a Festival Friends Pass, which will allow you and a friend priority access to the following select Festival sessions and signings. The full Festival schedule, including timing and location details for these sessions, will be announced at the end of September.

Become a Festival Friend today!

2018 Festival Friends Pass Session

A Love Letter to Libraries with Susan Orlean
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm Saturday, October 27, 2018
Capitol Auditorium, State Capitol

Libraries are one of society’s most valuable resources. Susan Orlean, bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and Rin Tin Tin, sits down with bestselling author and former librarian, Elizabeth McCracken, for a discussion of Orleans’s latest, The Library Book, her life-long love of books and the fascinating history of libraries in this special conversation about the crucial role that libraries play in our lives. Moderated by Elizabeth McCracken. Booksigning: 3:00PM, Adult Signing Tent on Congress Avenue.

To Earth and Beyond: A Conversation with Scott Kelly
12:30 pm – 1:15 pm Saturday, October 27, 2018
House Chamber, State Capitol

Astronaut Scott Kelly, veteran of four space flights, a year at the International Space Station, and the American record holder for consecutive days in space, shares his bestselling memoir Endurance, and how reading Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff inspired him on Earth and beyond. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear the story of a person who made history, both on Earth and beyond! Please Note: Pre-signed copies of Endurance are available in the Adult Book Sales Tent. Kelly will not sign books after this session.

An Unlikely Journey with Julián Castro
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm Saturday, October 27, 2018
House Chamber, State Capitol

Julián Castro, former mayor of San Antonio and the Obama Administration’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, shares his compelling memoir, An Unlikely Journey. Race issues, poverty, and the American Dream combine to make this story of how Castro became a leader in Texan and American politics and is now seen by many as a future presidential candidate. Moderator: Paul Stekler. Booksigning: 3:00PM, Adult Signing Tent on Congress Avenue.

Jacqueline Woodson in Conversation
12:30 pm – 1:15 pmSaturday, October 27, 2018
First United Methodist Church 1201 Lavaca Street

Join Jacqueline Woodson, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming, as she shares her brand new books for young readers: the middle grade novel Harbor Me, which celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories; and the picture book The Day You Begin, a poignant, heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone. Please Note: Woodson will sign books after this session, at 1:30PM, in Murcheson Chapel, directly next to First United Methodist Church. Books are available for sale at the Church courtesy of BookPeople.

We Belong Together: Fiction on Family
11:00 am – 11:45 amSaturday, October 27, 2018
House Chamber, State Capitol

In complex, moving new novels, bestselling authors Celeste Ng (Little Fires Everywhere) and Fatima Farheen Mirza (A Place for Us) explore family secrets, colliding cultural beliefs, and what constitutes a sense of belonging. Moderator: Richard Santos. Booksigning: 12:00PM in Adult Signing Tent, Congress Avenue.

Well-Read Black Girl
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm Sunday, October 28, 2018
Capitol Auditorium E1.004 1100 Congress Avenue, Austin Texas

Glory Edim, founder of the popular book club Well-Read Black Girl, has curated a new anthology of original essays by some of our best black female writers and creative voices to shine a light on how important it is that everyone—regardless of gender, race, religion, or abilities—can find themselves in literature. Join her and contributor Dhonielle Clayton as they discuss and share their work and love of reading. Moderator: Maya Payne Smart. Booksigning: 1:00PM, Adult Signing Tent on Congress Avenue.

Into the Animal Kingdom: The Photography of Randal Ford
2:30 pm – 3:15 pmSunday, October 28, 2018
Capitol Auditorium, State Capitol

Join acclaimed Austin-based photographer Randal Ford as he journeys into the animal kingdom with Animal Kingdom, sharing engaging portraits of 150 furry and feathered species and portraying the beauty, power and even humor of these incredible creatures. Moderated by Scott David Gordon. Booksigning: 3:30PM, Adult Signing Tent on Congress Avenue.

A New Case for Walter Mosley
3:30 pm – 4:15 pm Saturday, October 27, 2018
House Chamber, State Capitol

We’re thrilled to welcome award-winning author Walter Mosley back to the Texas Book Festival! Join him as he presents John Woman, a dazzling new novel about an unassuming boy named Cornelius Jones who turns himself into John Woman, an unconventional history professor. Meanwhile, the legacy of a hideous crime lurks in the shadows. Moderator: Hopeton Hay. Booksigning: 4:30PM in Adult Signing Tent, Congress Avenue.

Third Thoughts on Physics, the Universe and Discovery with Steven Weinberg
1:30 pm – 2:15 pm Sunday, October 28, 2018
Capitol Auditorium, House Chamber

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and author of the classic The First Three Minutes, Weinberg shares his views on some of the most fundamental and fascinating aspects of physics and the universe. Join him for a wide-ranging discussion, from the cosmological to the personal, from astronomy, quantum mechanics, and the history of science to the limitations of current knowledge, the art of discovery, and the rewards of getting things wrong. Moderator: Constantine Caramanis. Booksigning: 2:30PM, Adult Signing Tent on Congress Avenue.

Heirs of Our Founders: America’s Second Generation of Political Giants
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm Saturday, October 27, 2018
Capitol Auditorium, State Capitol

Bestselling historian H. W. Brands brings us the riveting story of America’s second generation of political giants—Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun—and their battle to complete the unfinished work of the Founding Fathers. Moderated by Brian Sweany Booksigning: 1:00PM, Adult Signing Tent on Congress Avenue.

Sneak Peak of 2019

Sneak Peek of 2019
12:00 pm – 12:45 pmSaturday, October 27, 2018
Capitol Extension Room E2.026 1100 Congress Avenue, Austin TX

Join us for a sneak peek of new books coming out in 2018! Authors Elizabeth McCracken (Bowlaway), Esmé Weijun Wang (The Collected Schizophrenias), and Fernando Flores (Tears of the Trufflepig) will give us a glimpse of their forthcoming books. Join them and be the first to know about some of the most exciting books being published next year! Moderated by Adeena Reitberger Booksiging: 1:00PM, Adult Signing Tent on Congress Avenue

Become a Festival Friend today!