Your weekend is about to be booked.
The Texas Book Festival starts this Saturday, and it’s taking over much of downtown with panels, book sales, and author signings — and it’s almost entirely free.
Your ATXtoday City Editors are planning to attend (spoiler alert: we’re pretty excited), so here’s our guide to the event.
When: Sat., Nov. 5 from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Sun., Nov. 6 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Where: Several booths and buildings in Downtown Austin are hosting festival events, largely congregated around the Texas State Capitol. Check out a full map here.
What: In addition to book shopping stations set up by BookPeople and signings by both children’s and adult authors, there are 100+ panels and readings taking place across the festival grounds. Some events are for Book Ticket holders only.
You can check out the full Saturday + Sunday lineups yourself, but here are a few we’re excited to go to:
- Saturday:
- 10 a.m. — The Mexican American Experience of Texas with Martha Menchaca
- 12:30 p.m. — Love and Romance: New in Romance Fiction with Annette Chavez Macias, Jasmine Guillory, and Priscilla Oliveras
- 4 p.m. — Speaking Up, and Standing Out with David Levithan, David Barclay Moore, and Kelly Yang
- Sunday:
- 11 a.m. — Mexican American Voices in Texas Music with Kathleen Hudson, Ernie Durawa, and Lesly Reynaga
- 1 p.m. — The Last Gangster in Austin with Jesse Sublett
- 3:45 p.m. — Ghosts, Scorpion Women, and Scrawny Chicken Gods: Genre-Defying Fiction and Poetry with Daniel A. Olivas, Adam Soto, and Leticia Urrieta
If that’s not enough content for you, the annual Lit Crawl is also taking place on Saturday in restaurants and other venues in East Austin. Tune in for happy hours, speakers, workshops, and even a literary death match — here’s the full lineup.
Who: More than 280 authors are participating in this year’s festival, including:
How: This is the easy part. Just find some parking (okay, that’s not as easy as it sounds — here are some tips) and show up.