The 2020 Texas Book Festival is hosting its 25th anniversary online, now through Nov. 15, and, as media sponsors, KUT and “Texas Standard” are proud to help you discover new books, connect with the writers behind them, and celebrate the joy of reading.
NPR's Steve Inskeep, a co-host of "Morning Edition," is one of the featured authors this year. He will discuss his latest history book: "Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War."
See the entire schedule and check out the panels we’re moderating. Live programming takes place through Crowdcast, a video broadcasting platform.
Select 2020 Panels
Friday, Nov 6, 2:30 p.m.
Zealots and Abolitionists: A Conversation with H. W. Brands and NPR’s Steve Inskeep
In new Civil War-era biographies, H. W. Brands ("The Zealot and the Emancipator") and NPR’s Steve Inskeep ("Imperfect Union") share deeply researched portraits of two historical duos—President Abraham Lincoln and radical abolitionist John Brown, and influential political couple John and Jessie Frémont—who, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not, helped shape the United States from the nineteenth century to today.
Sunday, November 8, 10 a.m.
To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq
Author and journalist (and former Austinte) Robert Draper discusses his newest book “To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq.”
Moderated by “Texas Standard” managing editor and anchor David Brown
Monday, November 9, noon
V-E Day at 75: The Women of World War II
Historians Catherine Grace Katz (“The Daughters of Yalta”) and Katherine Sharp Landdeck (“The Women with Silver Wings”) spotlight a group of women who helped change the course of World War II — from the daughters of three famous politicians who held powerful secrets of their own to the brave individuals of the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Moderated by “Texas Standard” producer-reporter Joy Diaz
Tuesday, November 10, 1 p.m.
The ACLU and 19th Amendment at 100
Ellis Cose (“Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU’s 100-Year Fight for Rights in America”) and Kimberly A. Hamlin (“Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrage, and the Extraordinary Life of Helen Hamilton Gardener”) gather to discuss the historical figures and institutions who fought—and still fight — for a more perfect union.
Moderated by KUT executive editor Teresa Frontado
Wednesday, November 11, 4 p.m.
Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back
Sports journalists Jessica Luther and Kavitha A. Davidson ("Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back") discuss sports and sports fandom both on and off the fields, courts, and diamonds — from racism to drugs, domestic violence, and CTE.
Moderated by KUT reporter Jimmy Maas
Saturday, November 14, 4 p.m.
Environmental Activists Erin Brockovich and Catherine Coleman Flowers in Conversation
Erin Brockovich ("Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It") and 2020 MacArthur Fellow Catherine Coleman Flowers ("Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret") illuminate — in a conversation about sustainability and environmental justice — the failures and dangers of our water and water-management systems and policies, from California to Appalachia.
Moderated by KUT environmental reporter Mose Buchele
