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Texas Book Festival 2015

Courtesy of Texas Book Festival

Texas Book Festival 2015

The 20thannual Texas Book Festival is happening Oct. 17 and 18 in and around the State Capitol in downtown Austin, Texas.

This year’s festival will feature about 300 authors of all different genres, as well as exhibitors, live music, local food trucks, and family activities. Throughout the year, KUT’s daily news show Texas Standard and some of KUT’s podcast hosts have interviewed authors appearing at this year’s festival. Click on the links below to hear from the authors about their work and the art of writing.

KUT's Jennifer Stayton talks with festival Executive Director Lois Kim about what's new at this year's festival and how books have withstood a surge in technology competing for people's attention.



To honor the 50th anniversary of the TBF, Austin authors, festival volunteers, and festival organizers have been sharing some of their favorite festival memories. Author Antonio Ruiz-Camacho recalls professional and personal moments from festivals past.



Volunteer Rosie Taylor recalls the gift an author made to some students and their touching reaction.



Executive Director Lois Kim recalls the fastest boot makers in the west (well, at least in West Texas) and the part they played in a festival award.



Austin author Sarah Bird has written nine novels. She remembers the time she was scheduled to moderate a panel .... well, she kind of remembers.





In 1969, the University of Texas football team was undefeated and beat Arkansas in what’s often called the “Game of the Century.” One of the players on that team was Freddie Steinmark. He was from Colorado - small for a football player, but he made his mark with his tough and smart play. His college career was cut short because of cancer, but Freddie Steinmark wound up making as big an impact off the field as he did on the field. KUT's Jennifer Stayton spoke with Steinmark’s childhood friend and high school teammate Bower Yousse and Thomas Cryan, who have written a book about Freddie Steinmark's life. They will be speaking at the 2015 Texas Book Festival.




"The Same Sky” by Amanda Erye Ward reads like it could have been ripped from the headlines, as it examines the struggles of children migrants who are desperately searching for a new life in America. She spoke on Texas Standard.






In this episode of Views and Brews, you can tour over 100 years of southern cooking with Toni-Tipton Martin, author of "The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks." Join KUT’s Rebecca McInroy, along with food writers and hosts of KUT’s podcast The Secret Ingredient, Tom Philpott and Raj Patel, and explore the rich social, political, and economic history of the South, through food.




Gary Cartwright, one of the first writers at Texas Monthly, has influenced an entire generation of magazine writing. He spoke with Texas Standard.






Sarah Hepola recently joined KUT podcast The Write Up to discuss her memoir. They also chatted about her work as an editor at Salon and as a freelance writer, and the complicated ways alcohol affected her writing and life.






Asher Price writes about energy and the environment for the Austin American-Statesman, so he took a scientific approach to his quest to dunk a basketball. He stopped by the Texas Standard to talk about his book "Year of the Dunk."




Javier Auyero is the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Professor in Latin American Sociology at the University of Texas-Austin. He is the editor of Invisible in Austin: Life and Labor in an American City, and the author of several books, including Poor People's Politics and Patients of the State.




And, author Sandra Cisneros, made famous by her novella “The House on Mango Street,” has released a memoir called “A House of My Own.” You can hear her interview here at the Texas Standard.