WLT at the Texas Book Festival

The Writers’ League of Texas will be at the Texas Book Festival this weekend. We will be located at booths 122 & 123 in the exhibits tent on Colorado between 12th and 13th streets.

Four Reasons Why You Should Stop by the WLT Booth:

1) Consider this an opportunity to meet and mingle with other literati-lovers in Texas. We know we’d love to meet you. Stop by and say hi!

2) This serves as a nice time for you to meet our new staff: Publicity and Programming Manager Jan Baumer, Office Manager Bethany Hegedus, and Bookkeeper Kate Meehan. We’re delighted to have these intelligent ladies working with us. Come welcome them!

3) We’re lucky to have WLT members who will be in our booth signing their books, click here to learn more about the member book signings. Come get your book signed!

4) We’ll be announcing the 2009 Book Awards winners! The ceremony will take place 3:30 Saturday in Room E.026 at the State Capital Extension. Come honor the winners and finalists!

The Writers’ League of Texas 2009 Bookish Brunch

Reservations extended until Wednesday, October 28th!

The Bookish Brunch

Honoring:

Texas Book Festival Authors

Click on their image and read the author’s bio.

Jimmy Santiago Baca

Tracy Daugherty

Diana López

John Pipkin

Also honoring the 2009 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award Winners

9 to 10:30 am, Sunday, November 1

At the home of Frances Townsend & Ted Gilman in Austin

$40 WLT members/$50 nonmembers

Proceeds benefit the Writers’ League of Texas

For more information, please visit our Bookish Brunch page.

Writers’ League Announces Violet Crown & Teddy Book Award Winners

The Writers’ League of Texas has just announced the winners of the 2008 Violet Crown and Teddy Book Awards, honoring outstanding books published in 2007:

• Violet Crown Award for Fiction: Harpsong, by Rilla Askew (right), Norman, OK (University of Oklahoma Press, May 2007)
• Violet Crown Award for Nonfiction: Texas Quilts and Quilters: A Lone Star Legacy, by Marcia Kaylakie (below right), Austin TX (Texas Tech University Press, October 2007)
• Teddy Children’s Book Award: Cures for Heartbreak, by Margo Rabb (left), Austin, TX (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, February 2007)

The winners will be acknowledged at the Writers’ League Book Awards Ceremony at the Texas Book Festival in Austin at 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 1, in Room 2.026 of the Capitol Extension at the State Capitol in Austin.

The Violet Crown Book Award, founded in 1991, is named for O. Henry’s description of Austin as the City of the Violet Crown and recognizes excellence in fiction and nonfiction. The Teddy Children’s Book Award has recognized outstanding children’s books since 1996. For the first time, the awards are open to authors who are not members the Writers’ League of Texas. Each winner receives a cash price of $1,000 in recognition of outstanding books published the previous year.

Past Violet Crown winners include Texas Monthly columnist and novelist Sarah Bird, mystery author Mary Willis Walker, novelist Amanda Eyre Ward, novelist Clay Reynolds, poet Jack Myers, journalist Carlton Stowers, and NPR commentator Marion Winik. Teddy winners have included Diane Gonzalez Bertrand, Angela Shelf Medearis, Kimberly Willis Holt, and John Erickson.