BookPeople Events!
For questions about events, contact BookPeople Marketing Director Mandy Brooks at 512.472.4288 x 411 or mandy@bookpeople.com.
Events start at 7PM unless otherwise indicated. List updated Wednesday, January 11.
*** - denotes new event
***MysteryPeople, BookPeople's mystery bookstore-within-a-bookstore, has expanded to include its own dedicated blog.
JANUARY 2012
Wednesday 11 7p - Austin Musician RUBY DEE PHILIPPA of Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers speaking & signing Ruby's Juke Joint Americana Cookbook
We'll kick off this event with a live performance by Austin's own Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers! Whether it's touring with her band Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers or serving up a backyard barbeque, Ruby Dee always has something cooking. From the first taste of her feisty and spicy sound to the last bite of a crowd pleasing dish, Ruby Dee is making fans rave and crave her winning recipes. Now, Ruby's collected her favorite Americana recipes in a brand new cookbook. She includes everything from a smorgasbord of enticing recipes for appetizers,drinks, special occasion dinners, and sweet farewells; to stories of Americana dishes; to behind-the-scenes slices of life on the road with the band Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers. The book also comes with a full-length CD that's a mix of lively Americana tunes.
Thursday 12 7p - Acclaimed author of The Wettest County in the World MATT BONDURANT speaking & signing The Night Swimmer.
(Matt Bondurant's previous novel The Wettest County in the World was a New York Times Editor's Pick, one of the San Francisco Chronicle's 50 Best Books of the Year, and is being made into a major motion picture.) The Night Swimmer is an atmospheric tale infused with Hitchcockian suspense. When Fred and Elly Bulkington arrive in a small town on the southern coast of Ireland from Vermont, having won a pub in a contest, they encounter a wild, strange land and the native resistance to outsiders. As Fred immerses himself in the life of a pub-owner, Elly takes the ferry out to a nearby island where she—to the disbelief of the locals—is consumed by her ritual of open water ocean swimming, pushing herself to the limits. Elly becomes enmeshed in the island's troubles—the power struggles between an enigmatic goat herder and the family that has controlled the area for centuries—while Fred's sanity wavers and their marriage begins to unravel. Matt Bondurant's first novel The Third Translation was an international bestseller, translated into 14 languages worldwide. His short fiction has appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The New England Review, and Glimmer Train, among others.
Friday 13 7p - Star of The Blair Witch Project HEATH DONAHUE speaks & signs her new memoir, Growgirl: How My Life After Blair Witch Project Went to Pot
(The star of the international cult sensation The Blair Witch Project shares the high points of living on a marijuana farm post- Hollywood.) At age thirty-four, Heather Donahue's life went to pot. Literally. After starring in The Blair Witch Project-the tiny indie film- turned-blockbuster that Roger Ebert named one of the ten Most Influential Movies of the Century-she became a household name. But the afterglow of the movie waned, her acting career stalled, and she feared the day her epitaph would read, "Here Lies the Girl from The Blair Witch Project." Determined to start a new life, she left most remnants of the old one in the desert, meditated on things for a few days, then followed her brand-new boyfriend to her brand-new life- growing pot.
Saturday 14 11:30am - Special Musical Storytime with Austin Children's Band THE QUE PASTAS
The musical duo that is sweeping Austin with its groovy tunes & silly antics is stopping off at BookPeople for a little show! Come dance and cut loose with some of Austin's most intriguing & goofy musicians for children, Que Pastas! This morning at 11:30AM.
Tuesday 17 10:30am - Special Storytime and Booksigning with NICK BRUEL, Bestselling Author of the Bad Kitty Series of Children's Books
This morning we're having an especially special storytime with author Nick Bruel. He'll be reading his wonderful books featuring your favorite delightfully cranky & naughty feline, Bad Kitty! Not only will Mr. Bruel be here to read books and sign copies you purchase at BookPeople, but we'll have Bad Kitty LIVE (in costume). It will be the place to be this morning at 10:30AM!
Tuesday 17 7p - Bestselling Author of Memoirs of A Beautiful Boy ROBERT LELEUX speaks & signs The Living End.
(The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy was named The Houston Press's Best Houston Book of the Year for 2008. Leleux is a native of east Texas.) The Living End is a tribute to an unforgettable woman, and a testimony to the way a disease can awaken an urgent desire for love and forgiveness. Robert Leleux's grandmother JoAnn was a steel magnolia, an elegant and devastatingly witty woman: quick-tongued, generous in her affections, but sometimes oddly indifferent to the emotions of those who most needed her. When JoAnn began exhibiting signs of Alzheimer's, she'd been estranged from her daughter, Robert's mother Jessica, for decades. As her disease progressed, JoAnn lost most of her memories, but she also forgot her old wounds and anger. She became a happy, gentler person who was finally able to reach out to her daughter in what became a strangely life-affirming experience, an unexpected blessing that gave a divided family a second chance.
Wednesday 18 7p - MysteryPeople Presents: Bestelling Author TAYLOR STEVENS in conversation with Austin's own Nationally Bestselling Thriller Writer JEFF ABBOTT about Stevens' The Innocent.
(Austin's own nationally bestselling thriller writer Jeff Abbott will lead the conversation at this event. Stevens is a MysteryPeople favorite and a NYT bestselling author with a fascinating personal background, having been raised in a cult.) Born into the Children of God, raised in communes across the globe, and denied an education beyond the sixth grade, Taylor Stevens broke free of the cult in order to follow hope and a vague idea of what possibilities lay beyond. She's now a writer living in Texas, whose first novel, The Informationist, was a New York Times bestseller. She'll be here in conversation with Jeff Abbott, bestselling author of Adrenaline, about her second thriller, The Innocent. This latest Vanessa Munroe thriller tells the story of five year old Hannah, who was taken into the world of a cult known as The Chosen. For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her. Now, those who've searched the longest know where to find her. They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who've managed to make lives for themselves on the outside. They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn't trust them, and get Munroe on the inside.
Thursday 19 7p - Bestselling & Award-Winning Author LUIS ALBERTO URREA speaks & signs Queen of America.
(Urrea is a BookPeople favorite with an active online presence and tremendous following, and is nationally recognized as an achieved literary author. He was recently featured on NPR.) The remarkable heroine of The Hummingbird's Daughter makes a welcome return in an epic novel of love, loss and miracles in America. Queen of America is based on Luis Urrea's real great-aunt Teresita, who had healing powers and was acclaimed as a saint. Urrea extensively researched historical accounts and family records for decades to get the true story. He recounts a spell-binding tale: After the bloody Tomochic rebellion, Teresita Urrea, beloved healer and "Saint of Cabora," flees with her father to Arizona. But their plans are derailed when she once again is claimed as the spiritual leader of the Mexican Revolution. Besieged by pilgrims and pursued by assassins, Teresita embarks on a journey through turn-of-the-century industrial America-stopping in New York, San Francisco, and St. Louis.
Friday 20 7p - In cooperation with edibleAustin magazine, Assoc. Prof of Women's & Gender Studies at UT ELIZABETH ENGELHARDT speaks & signs Mess of Greens: Southern Gender and Southern Food.
Combining the study of food culture with gender studies and using perspectives from historical, literary, environmental, and American studies, Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt examines what southern women's choices about food tell us about race, class, gender, and social power. Panelists at this event will include special guests Carol Ann Sayle from Boggy Creek Farm, Stephanie McClenny of confituras, and Lara Nixon of Bad Dog Bar Craft. Enjoy special tastings inspired by the book along with Saint Arnold Brewing Company beverages.
Saturday 21 12p - Children's Author JAN BOZARTH speaking & signing Fairy Godmother Academy Book #5: Sumi's Book
Put on your wings and sprinkle on some fairy dust, because we have a magical event coming for you with one of BookPeople's bestselling authors, Jan Bozarth! More magic and adventure await in this latest Fairy Godmother Academy story. Sumi Hara loves fashion. She always looks beautiful, and always wears the perfect outfit. When she arrives in Aventurine, Sumi is thrilled to learn that she's a shape-shifter.Unfortunately, she's not very good at shape-shifting yet, so she's given a guide named Kano—who's distractingly gorgeous in his human form. When they find out that an evil fairy queen holds the final mirror shard needed to complete their mission, Sumi will have to discover what true beauty and perfection are.
Saturday 21 4p - Award-Winning Debut Novelist & Former Austinite KEIJA PARSSINEN speaks & signs The Ruins of Us.
Saudi-born author Keija Parssinen's stunning debut offers the intricate, emotionally resonant story of an American expatriate who discovers that her husband, a Saudi billionaire, has taken a second bride—an emotionally turbulent revelation that blinds them both to their teenaged son's ominous first steps down the road of radicalization. Readers who enjoyed The Septembers of Shiraz will enjoy Parssinen's story of love and betrayal, fundamentalism, family and country in the Middle East. Keija Parssinen was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there for twelve years as a third-generation expatriate. She also grew up in Lakeway/Lake Travis and lived for many years in Austin. The Ruins of Us, her first novel, received a Michener-Copernicus Award.
Saturday 21 7p - OFF SITE: BookPeople Hosts Bestselling YA Author JOHN GREEN at Westlake Performing Arts Center to speak & sign The Fault In Our Stars.
(John Green has a MASSIVE and loyal online following. Tickets for this event went on sale Fri 12/9 and we've already sold hundreds. He's one of the biggest YA authors writing right now and built significant anticipation among his fans for this new book.) We are absolutely thrilled to be able to bring the one and only John Green to Austin to speak & sign his brand new, highly anticipated book, The Fault In Our Stars! This event will take place at Westlake Performing Arts Center (4100 Westbank Drive, Austin). Tickets are required to attend this event and and cost $25, which includes one signed copy of The Fault In Our Stars and entitles the bearer to one seat at the event. Signed books will be distributed at Westlake Community Performing Arts Center the evening of the event. The event begins at 7p, and doors will open at 6p. Tickets can be purchased three ways: in-store; over the phone (512-472-5050); or online (http:www.bookpeople.com).
Sunday 22 3p - Award Winning Author JAMES CARLOS BLAKE speaks & signs Country of the Bad Wolfes.
A master of the historical novel, James Carlos Blake has been hailed as "a poet of the damned who writes like an angel." (Kirkus Reviews) In Country of the Bad Wolfes, based in part on his own ancestors, Blake presents the story of the Wolfe family—a saga that spans three generations, centers on two sets of identical twins and the women they love, and ranges from New England to the heart of Mexico before concluding in South Texas. James Carlos Blake was born in Mexico and grew up in Texas and Florida. He is the author of nine other novels and a collection of short works . Among his literary honors are the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southwest Book Award, and the Falcon Award.
Monday 23 7p - Local Author Night featuring Jerry Butler & M. E. Patterson
We love our local authors here at BookPeople, and tonight we're pleased to have with us two local Austin writers who will present their work. Jerry Brown will present Wine and Spirit: A Christian's Guide to Enjoying Wine. With passion and a light-hearted spirit, WINE & SPIRIT is a quick, basic guide for everyone who wants to know what the Bible really says about wine. M. E. Patterson will present Devil's Hand. A Las Vegas poker ace with supernatural luck is swept into a world-ending conflict between fallen angels and otherworldly shades, in this thrilling new novel. (This event will happen on our third floor.)
Monday 23 7p - Bestselling YA Authors JAY ASHER & CAROLYN MACKLER speak & sign The Future of Us.
(Jay Asher's previous novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, was a #1 NYT bestseller and continues to be a bestselling book at our store. He and Mackler are two of today's most popular YA authors. The release of this book has garnered extensive media coverage. The book has already been optioned for a film by Warner Bros.) YA lovers, get ready for a very cool event! Tonight we are a very lucky bookstore, indeed, to welcome Jay Asher, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Thirteen Reasons Why, and bestselling author Carolyn Macker to BookPeople with their new novel, The Future of Us. It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet. Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM. Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.
Tuesday 24 7p - Award Winning Fiction Writer BEN MARCUS speaks & signs his new novel, The Flame Alphabet.
(Ben Marcus is a major modern literary figure. His stories have been widely published and have earned him three Pushcart Prizes.) A terrible epidemic has struck the country and the sound of children's speech has become lethal. All Sam and Claire need to do is look around the neighborhood: In the park, parents wither beneath the powerful screams of their children.With Claire nearing collapse, it seems their only means of survival is to flee from their daughter, Esther. But Sam and Claire find it isn't so easy to leave the daughter they still love, even as they waste away from her malevolent speech. The Flame Alphabet asks, What is left of civilization when we lose the ability to communicate with those we love? Ben Marcus is the author of Notable American Women and The Age of Wire and String. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Paris Review, Tin House, and elsewhere. In addition to three Pushcart Prizes, he is also the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia University.
Wednesday 25 7p - Hard Word Book Club discussing Death Along the Spirit Road by Margaret Coel.
Tough stories with hard hombres and dangerous dames, where survival trumps virtue, no matter what side of the law you are on; this is what you'll find in the Hard Word Book Club. Scott and Joe will guide you along the last Wednesday of every month at 7PM. This month's book is Death Along the Spirit Road by C.M. Wendelboe. Wendelboe will be calling in, so don't miss this discussion!
Wednesday 25 7p - KUT Radio Host & Musician KIM SIMPSON speaks & signs Early 70's Radio: The American Format Revolution.
The host of The International Folk Bazaar on Austin's KOOP-FM and co-host for Folkways on KUT 90.5 FM has written a comprehensive book that focuses on the emergence of commercial music radio "formats," which refer to distinct musical genres aimed toward specific audiences. This formatting revolution took place in a period rife with heated politics, identity anxiety, large-scale disappointments and seemingly insoluble social problems. A fresh and accessible exercise in audience interpretation, Early '70s Radio is organized according to the era's five prominent formats and analyzes each of these in relation to their targeted demographics, including Top 40, "soft rock", album-oriented rock, soul and country.
Thursday 26 5:30p - Happy Hour at the Highball Book Club discussing Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.
What's better than talking about a book with a group of friends? Talking about a book with a group of friends during Happy Hour at The HighBall! Come hang out with Mandy and Joel the last Thursday of every month at 5:30PM where we'll discuss books over cocktails. This month's book is Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.
Thursday 26 7p - Panel Discussion Presenting Three Messages and A Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic.
Editors Chris N. Brown and Eduardo Jiménez Mayo, and featured authors Bernardo Fernández and Pepe Rojo will celebrate, the publication of Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic at BookPeople with a reading, discussion, and audience Q&A. This huge anthology of more than thirty all-original Mexican science fiction and fantasy features ghost stories, supernatural folktales, alien incursions, and apocalyptic narratives, as well as science-based chronicles of highly unusual mental states in which the borders of fantasy and reality reach unprecedented levels of ambiguity. Stereotypes of Mexican identity are explored and transcended by the thoroughly cosmopolitan consciousnesses underlying these works.
Friday 27 7p - MysteryPeople Presents: International Bestselling Author R. J. ELLORY speaking & signing A Quiet Vendetta.
(R. J. Ellory is a huge thriller writer in the UK, on par with James Patterson, Lee Child, and similar writers here in the states.) MysteryPeople is thrilled to welcome R.J. Ellory to Austin! The author of eight novels, including the bestselling A Quiet Belief in Angels, which was the Strand Magazine's Thriller of the Year, nominated for the Barry Award, and a finalist for the SIBA Award, Ellory will be here with his novel A Quiet Vendetta. In addition to speaking and signing, Ellory, who is also a musician, will perform at this event. When Catherine Ducane disappears in the heart of New Orleans, the local cops react rapidly - she is the daughter of the Governor of Louisiana after all. But the case gets very strange, very quickly. Quickly dragged down to the deep South, Ray Hartmann puzzles over why he has been summoned and why the mysterious kidnapper, an elderly Cuban named Ernesto Perez, wants to tell him his life story. It's only when he realises that Ernesto has been a brutal hitman for the Mob since the 1950s that things start to come together. But by the time the pieces fall into place, it's already too late...
Saturday 28 7:30p - Bestselling Author DANIEL HANDLER & Acclaimed Illustrator MAIRA KALMAN speaking & signing Why We Broke Up.
Bestselling author of, among other things, the Lemony Snicket series of books, Daniel Handler has teamed up with renowned artist Maira Kalman to create this wonderful new YA book that delves into that most painful of human experiences - The Break Up. In Why We Broke Up, Min and Ed are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Each item in the box represents a different moment in their relationship, and is illustrated by the incredibly talented Maira Kalman. The book inspired Handler and Kalman to create The Why We Broke Up Project, whose tumblr account (http://whywebrokeupproject.tumblr.com/) invites people to share their own break-up stories. In January, BookPeople will create a correlating in-store display wall inviting Austinites to anonymously share their own break-up stories.
Sunday 29 5p - Voyage Out Book Club discussing The Tiger's Wife.
Join Clint and Brian C. the last Sunday of every month at 5PM as we use wonderful books to travel the world. We're actually taking a break from a specific region at the moment, and instead choosing to read books on our "to read" list. This month we are reading The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. (Due to the Christmas holiday, we have 2 meeting dates in January. The first date is 1/1, the second is 1/29.)
Monday 30 7p - New and Noteworthy Book Club discussing A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Perhaps more aptly named the "sometimes new/always noteworthy" book club, here is a place to discover recent gems and to revisit old favorites. Come join Kester and Jamie the last Monday of every month at 7PM. This month's book is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Monday 30 7p - Vietnam Historian & US Military Academy Graduate LEWIS SORLEY speaking & signing Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam
In this definitive new biography, leading military Vietnam historian Lewis Sorley asks the question: Is General William Westmoreland the real reason the Vietnam War was lost? How did he get there, why did he fail, and how did he last so long? An Eagle Scout at fifteen, First Captain of his West Point class, Westmoreland fought in World War II and Korea, rising rapidly to command the 101st Airborne Division and become Superintendent at West Point, then was chosen to lead the war effort in Vietnam. Sorley examines how he failed to understand a complex war, choosing a flawed strategy, sticking to it in the face of all opposition, and misrepresenting the results when truth mattered most. In so doing he squandered four years of support by Congress, much of the media, and the American people. Lewis Sorley served in Vietnam, and in the Pentagon in the offices of Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger and Army Chief of Staff General William C. Westmoreland. He also taught at West Point and the Army War College.
FEBRUARY
***Friday 3 7p - LOCAL AUTHOR NIGHT featuring L. AUDEL CAYCE & BRUCE MARSHALL
We love our local authors here at BookPeople, and tonight we're pleased to have with us two local Austin writers who will present their work. L. AUDEL CAYCE will present Windland's Rescue, a coming of age tale with a cast of characters that span time and galaxies; energy grids and traveling portals. BRUCE MARSHALL will present City of Silver, a tale, based on a true story, of a Confederate officer from Texas and an Irish-born deserter fromt he American Army during the Mexican War struggling to defend the silver mines of Alamos while the Imperial regime of Emperor Maximillion of Mexico and the Republicans under Juarez battle for it.
***Saturday 4 7p - Novelist JACQUELINE LUCKETT in conversation with Acclaimed Literary Author ZZ PACKER
(ZZ Packer will lead the discussion this evening. This is the second event in our new series with American Short Fiction.) BookPeople and American Short Fiction literary magazine are proud to join together to host an evening with notable literary author and current Austinite ZZ PACKER and novelist JACQUELINE LUCKETT at BookPeople. ZZ Packer, author of the acclaimed short story collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,has been named one of America's Best Young Novelists by Granta literary magazine, and recognized as one The New Yorker's elite list of "20 Under 40" writers. As a literary author of extreme merit, Packer has let it be known that, "Luckett is a writer to watch and admire." A fan and supporter of Luckett's work, Packer will lead the conversation about Luckett's new novel, Passing Love, at this event. Luckett is also the author of the novel Searching for Tina Turner.
***Tuesday 7 7p - RANDY FERTEL speaking & signing The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir
(Fertel is the son of the woman who founded Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. The book tells her story, and the story of his father, both colorful New Orleans characters.) The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak is the story of two larger-than-life characters and the son whom their lives helped to shape. Ruth Fertel was a petite, smart, tough-as-nails blonde, who founded the Ruth's Chris Steak House empire. Rodney Fertel was a gold-plated, one-of-a-kind personality, who ran for mayor of New Orleans on a single campaign promise--buying a pair of gorillas for the zoo. This is a New Orleans story, featuring the distinctive characters, color, food, and history of that city--before Hurricane Katrina and after. But it also is the universal story of family and the full magnitude of outsize follies leavened with equal measures of humor, rage, and rue.
***Wednesday 8 7p - Party for the Winners of the Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest
You are invited to hear the first, second, and third place winners of the Twentieth Annual Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest read their short stories tonight at a special reception and party! Honorable mentions will also be announced. All the manuscripts submitted were the original work of the contestants and have never been published. Be the first one to hear them tonight at 7PM!
***Thursday 9 7p - JAMES SCURLOCK speaking & signing King Larry: The Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius
James Scurlock tells the riveting story of Larry Hillblom, who, after graduating from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1969, cofounded DHL. Hillblom's expatriate life began twelve years later, when he retreated to a small tax haven in the Western Pacific. There, Scurlock reveals, Hillblom led the resistance to American meddling in the Mariana Islands, rewrote the tax code and real-estate laws, and became a Supreme Court justice—among other unlikely exploits. When his seaplane disappeared off the coast of Anatahan in May 1995, he left behind an estate worth close to a billion dollars. Weeks later, five impoverished women and their attorneys came forward to challenge Hillblom's will, provoking a legal battle that has raged for over fifteen years. Scurlock has written for numerous publications, including Slate, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, and AARP Magazine. He has also appeared on numerous programs, including Nightline, The Today Show, and CNBC's Power Lunch.
***Friday 10 7p - My Vicious Valentine: Spine-Tingling YA Panel
Moderated by Sean Petrie, six top YA authors dish on the devilish, gab about ghosts, and soar with the angels in this panel celebrating spine-tingling stories, supernatural creatures, and perhaps scariest of all, true love. Featuring authors: Rosemary Clement-Moore, Jordan Dane, P. J. Hoover, Mari Mancusi, Cynthia Leitich Smith, LA Weatherly.
***Saturday 11 7p - StoryCorps Founder DAVE ISAY speaking & signing All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps
(There's a StoryCorps van parked outside of the Bob Bullock Museum through the beginning of Feb. There will be heavy support for this book on NPR. Previous StoryCorps collections have all been NYT bestsellers.) With Valentine's Day only a few days away, love of all types - true, unrequited, lost and found - is in the air. Join us this evening when Dave Isay shares stories of love and marriage from the revolutionary oral history project StoryCorps, revealing the many and remarkable paths that relationships can take. As the storytellers in this book start careers, build homes, and raise families, we witness the life-affirming joy of partnership, the comfort of shared sorrows, and profound gratitude in the face of loss. These stories are also testament to love's remarkable endurance.Dave Isay is the founder of StoryCorps and the recipient of numerous broadcasting honors, including five Peabody Awards and a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship.
***Wednesday 15 7p - Football Star & New York Times Bestselling Author MICHAEL OHER speaking & signing I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness, to the Blind Side, and Beyond
(The hit book/film The Blind Side is based on Oher's life. This memoir hit the NYT bestseller in hardcover.) Michael Lewis' bestselling book The Blind Side, turned into a blockbuster film starring Sandra Bullock, made Michael Oher a household name by sharing his inspirational story of going from homeless teen to football star. In I Beat the Odds, Oher tells his own story, looking back on how he went from being a homeless child in Memphis to playing in the NFL. He talks about the goals he had to break out of the cycle of poverty, addiction, and hopelessness that trapped his family, and describes the absolute necessity of seeking out positive role models and good friends who share the same values to achieve one's dreams. Michael Oher is an American football offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League.
***Friday 17 7p - Bestselling Science Fiction & Fantasy Author ROBIN HOBB speaking & signing City of Dragons
(Hobb also writes as Megan Lindholm. She's won the Asimov's Reader's Award and has been a finalist for a Nebula and Hugo Award.) New York Times bestselling author Robin Hobb returns to the world of the Rain Wilds—called "one of the most gripping settings in modern fantasy" (Booklist)—in City of Dragons. Continuing the enthralling journey she began in her acclaimed Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven, Hobb rejoins a small group of weak, half-formed and unwanted dragons and their displaced human companions as they search for a legendary sanctuary. Now, as the misfit band approaches its final destination, dragons and keepers alike face a challenge so insurmountable that it threatens to render their long, difficult odyssey utterly meaningless.
***Saturday 18 4p - MysteryPeople Presents HILARY DAVIDSON speaking & signing The Next One to Fall
Hilary Davidson's The Damage Done — called a "razor sharp mystery debut" by Publishers Weekly — won the 2011 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and the Crimespree Award for Best First Novel. In her latest novel, travel writer Lily Moore discovers a woman clinging to life at the bottom of an ancient stone staircase at Machu Picchu. Just before the woman dies, she tells Lily the name of the man who pushed her. Unable to accept the official ruling of accidental death, Lily hunts down the wealthy man who was the dead woman's traveling companion and discovers a pattern of dead and missing women in his wake. Obsessed with getting justice for these women, Lily sets in motion a violent chain of events with devastating consequences.
***Sunday 19 4p - Bestselling Novelist RACHEL SIMON speaking & signing The Story of Beautiful Girl
(This novel was an Indiebound & NYT bestseller in hardcover, and recommended by Oprah Winfrey. The paperback edition is expected to have a similar positive reception, particularly among book groups.) A IndieBound and New York Times bestseller and one of Oprah Winfrey's "Ten Titles to Pick Up Now" last summer, The Story of Beautiful Girl, now out in paperback, has been celebrated as a deft combination of love story and story of social accountability. It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge at the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher, where Lynnie gives birth. The same night, authorities catch up to them. Horne escape but Lynnie is caught. And so begins the 40-year epic journey of Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and baby Julia-lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, yet drawn together by a secret pact and extraordinary love.
***Wednesday 22 7p - UT Professor JEREMI SURI speaking & signing Liberty's Surest Guardian
Americans are a nation-building people, and in Liberty's Surest Guardian, Jeremi Suri—Nobel Fellow and leading light in the next generation of policy makers—looks to America's history to see both what it has to offer failed states around the world and what it should avoid. Suri, rovocative historian and one of Smithsonian magazine's "Top Young Innovators" has mined more than two hundred years of American policy in order to explain the five "P"s of nation-building. He takes on the idea of American exceptionalism and turns it into a playbook for President Obama over the next, vital few years. Jeremi Suri is the Mack Brown Distinguished Professor for Global Leadership, History, and Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of five books on contemporary politics and foreign policy.
***Thursday 23 7p - Novelist SERE PRINCE HALVERSON speaking & signing The Underside of Joy
(A debut novel that's already receiving high praise from booksellers and will likely be popular with many book group.) Set against the backdrop of Redwood forests and shimmering vineyards, Seré Prince Halverson's compelling debut tells the story of two women, bound by an unspeakable loss, who each claims to be the mother of the same two children. When an ocean wave takes Joe Beene in its swell, he leaves behind his wife, Ella, and the two children from his first marriage, who believe their biological mother, Paige, has abandoned them. When their mother turns up at the funeral demanding her children back, Ella soon realizes there is more to Joe and Paige's relationship than she knew. The Underside of Joy is not a fairy-tale version of stepmotherhood pitting good Ella against evil Paige, but an exploration of the complex relationship of two mothers.
***Friday 24 7p - Award Winning Science Fiction & Fantasy Author ELIZABETH MOON speaking & signing Echoes of Betrayal
The action continues fast and furious in this third installment of Elizabeth Moon's celebrated return to the fantasy world of the paladin Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter. This award-winning author has firsthand military experience and an imagination that knows no bounds. Combine those qualities with an ability to craft flesh-and-blood characters, and the result is the kind of speculative fiction that engages both heart and mind. All is not well in the Eight Kingdoms. In Lyonya, King Kieri is about to celebrate marriage to his beloved, the half-elf Arian. But uncanny whispers from the spirits of his ancestors continue to warn of treachery and murder. Meanwhile, in Tsaia, the young king Mikeli must grapple with unrest among his own nobility over his controversial decision to grant the title and estates of a traitorous magelord to a Verrakaien who not only possesses the forbidden magic but is a woman besides. But even greater danger is looming.
***Monday 27 7p - Award Winning Austin Author ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT speaking & signing his new novel, The Troupe
(Bennett graduated from UT and lives in Austin. Last year he won the Shirley Jackson Award for his previous novel, Mr. Shivers.) Already given a starred review by Publisher's Weekly, Bennett's new novel The Troupe tells the story of George Carole, a run-away who joins the Vaudeville circuit. Sixteen years old, uncommonly gifted at the piano, he falls in with a strange troupe -- even for Vaudeville. Under the watchful eye of the enigmatic figure of Silenus, George comes to realize that the members of the troupe are more than they appear to be. And their travels have a purpose that runs deeper than entertainment.Robert Jackson Bennett was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but grew up in Katy, Texas. A UT alum, he currently lives in Austin and is the author of the novels Mr. Shivers, for which he won the 2011 Shirley Jackson Award, and The Company Man.
***Tuesday 28 6p - Former First Lady of Houston ANDREA WHITE speaking & signing her new YA novel, Windows on the World
(In addition to being the former First Lady of Houston, White is an award-winning YA novelist. While in Austin, she'll visit schools in support of VIVA.) A vocal advocate for literacy and education, Andrea White is also an established and acclaimed author of fiction for Young Adults. In 2004, her novel Surviving Antarctica was selected for many state reading lists, including the Texas Bluebonnet. In 2005 she won a Texas State Reading Association Golden Spur Award. Now, she presents her latest novel, Windows on the World, a futuristic tale for young adults that explores issues of poverty and privilege. She is a proud supporter of VIVA, Virtual Interaction with Visiting Authors, a pilot program in the Houston School District aimed to connect students with local authors so that they can ask questions and interact via web chats and virtual discussions.
***Wednesday 29 7p - Bestselling Author of Snowflower and the Secret Fan LISA SEE speaking & signing Dreams of Joy
(Since Snowflower and the Secret Fan, all of Lisa See's novels have been NYT bestsellers. This novel debuted at #1 on the NYT list in hardcover.) In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl's strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy. Dreams of Joy debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in hardcover. See will be here for the paperback edition.
--
Julie Wernersbach
Publicist
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78703
http://www.bookpeople.com
BP Facebook
BP Twitter
BP Blog
Currently Reading What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander
