Author Sandra Cisneros wins Lifetime Achievement Award from Texas Institute of Letters<\/h1>\n
<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span>Internationally acclaimed author Sandra Cisneros<\/span> (left) has been named winner of the Texas Institute of Letters\u2019s prestigious Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement. This is the highest honor given by the TIL, which was established in 1936 to recognize and celebrate the state\u2019s literary artists. The award will be presented to Cisneros at the TIL\u2019s annual banquet, set for April 7, 2018, in San Antonio.<\/p>\n \u201cSandra Cisneros has been a guiding force in American literature for over thirty years,\u201d said TIL president Steve Davis.<\/span> \u201cWe are overjoyed at this opportunity to recognize her in Texas, where Sandra has made so many historic and enduring contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n Cisneros is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and essayist whose work explores the lives of the working class. Born and raised in Chicago, she moved to San Antonio in the 1980s and made her home in the city for decades. Her first book, The House on Mango Street,<\/span> has sold over six million copies, has been translated into over twenty languages, and is required reading in elementary schools, high schools, and universities across the nation. The book continues to inspire generations of readers.<\/p>\n Cisneros\u2019s other acclaimed works include Woman Hollering Creek: Stories;<\/span> the novel Caramelo;<\/span> two full-length poetry books, My Wicked, Wicked Ways<\/span> and Loose Woman;<\/span> a memoir, A House of My Own: Stories from My Life;<\/span> and two illustrated books: Hairs = Pelitos<\/span> and Have You Seen Marie?<\/span><\/p>\n Since moving from San Antonio in 2012, Cisneros has become a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cI travel back and forth to Texas now more than I do to any other region in the country,\u201d Cisneros said. \u201cI may no longer make my home in Texas, but Texas stories still make their home in me. Thank you, TIL, for this great recognition for my labor.\u201d<\/p>\n Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, the Texas Medal of the Arts, a MacArthur Fellowship, a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, several honorary doctorates and book awards nationally and internationally, including Chicago\u2019s Fifth Star Award, the PEN Center USA Literary Award, and the National Medal of the Arts, awarded to her by President Obama in 2016.<\/p>\n In addition to her writing, Cisneros has fostered the careers of many aspiring and emerging writers through the two non-profit organizations she founded: the Macondo Foundation and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation. She is also the organizer of Los MacArturos, Latino MacArthur fellows who are community activists. Her literary papers are preserved in Texas at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University.<\/p>\n For more information on Sandra Cisneros, visit her website at www.sandracisneros.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit honor society founded in 1936 to to celebrate Texas literature and recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL\u2019s elected membership consists of the state\u2019s most respected writers, who have earned the acclamation of their peers.<\/p>\n Photograph \u00a9 Keith Dannemiller<\/p>\n (Information and photograph from organization\u2019s press release)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>EL PASO \u2014 This Sunday, October 1, 2017, kicks off the 11th annual Tom Lea Month, <\/span>recognizing the Texas artist-author\u2019s achievements with exhibitions and events. The Tom Lea Institute and other community organizations will hold exhibits, lectures, classes, film screenings, and tours throughout the month to honor his work. In addition, the Tom Lea Trail,<\/span><\/a><\/span> officially designated by the state legislature during this past session, invites visitors to see Lea\u2019s work in numerous Texas and New Mexico cities, as well as Juarez in Mexico.<\/p>\n Since the first Tom Lea Month in July 2007, to mark what would have been the artist\u2019s 100th birthday, the celebration has grown and expanded nationally with past events from Ju\u00e1rez to Washington, D.C. Previous Tom Lea Month events and exhibits have drawn crowds in Austin, Dallas, Fredericksburg, Galveston, Marathon, Odessa, Waco and other sites around Texas.<\/p>\n Many only know Lea for his New Deal\u2013era murals, but he also wrote best-selling novels that were made into major Hollywood movies, and he served as a World War II correspondent for magazine depicting the fighting with reporting and paintings.<\/p>\n To learn more about this year\u2019s Tom Lea Month events, visit the Institute\u2019s website at www.tomlea.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n (Information and photo from organization\u2019s website)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Lubbock enters the book festival arena this fall <\/span>with the all-day Lubbock Book Festival on Saturday, Oct. 28. More than three dozen best-selling authors and regional favorites have been confirmed to read, sign books, and greet fans at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, a cornerstone of the Lubbock Cultural District.<\/p>\n Keynoters include S. C. Gwynne,<\/span> author of the nonfiction bestsellers Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches<\/span> (2010) and Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson<\/span> (2015). Most recently, Gwynne explores how throwing passes revolutionized Texas\u2019 most popular sport in The Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football<\/span> (2016)\u200e, including a nod to the innovations of Mike Leach,<\/span> former Texas Tech University head coach.<\/p>\n More than 20 regional and national bestselling authors are scheduled to attend the Lubbock Book Festival, including Jodi Thomas,<\/span> a member of the National Romance Writers Hall of Fame, and John R. Erickson, <\/span>creator of the beloved Hank the Cowdog series for young readers.<\/p>\n Fans can also look forward to appearances by writers Terry Jennings,<\/span> author of the heartfelt memoir\/biography Waylon: Tales of My Outlaw Dad<\/span> (2016); Ad\u00e1n Medrano, <\/span>cookbook author of Truly Texas Mexican: A Native Culinary Heritage in Recipes<\/span> (2014) and Angelina LaRue,<\/span> author of The Whole Enchilada<\/span> (2015), with a luncheon cooking demonstration; and Patrick Dearen<\/span>, Western Writers of America Spur Award winner for The Big Drift<\/span> (2014), as well as newcomer to the book scene Karin McCay,<\/span> news co-anchor of Lubbock\u2019s KCBD-TV, with her Magic Mommy series of titles for children.<\/p>\n The Lubbock Book Festival will play a key role in the 20th anniversary of the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, known locally as LHUCA (pronounced Luka). The center\u2019s studios, galleries, and performance spaces host a busy schedule of film screenings, exhibitions, concerts, and dance performances. With the new book fest, the center will strengthen its connection to the literary arts, Executive Director Jean Caslin said.<\/p>\n Moreover, the new festival is in keeping with a quote from George Washington, appropriately lettered above the door of LHUCA\u2019s Firehouse Theatre: \u201cTo encourage literature and art is the duty that every good citizen owes to his country.\u201d<\/p>\n Festival admission is free and open to the public; tickets will be required for some free events as well as Saturday’s cookbook luncheon. A full schedule and lineup is in progress at www.LubbockBookFestival.org<\/span><\/a><\/span>, with further events to be announced as festival time approaches.<\/p>\n (Information from organization’s press release)<\/p>\n This year\u2019s celebrity guest will be Charlaine Harris<\/span> (left), author of the novels that inspired HBO\u2019s\u00a0True Blood<\/span>\u00a0and the new hit NBC series,\u00a0Midnight,\u00a0Texas.<\/span> Joining Harris as guest speakers will be renowned cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard, Research and Investigation of the Paranormal founder Greg Stephens, and Boni Furusho, a mentor to those who have experienced paranormal phenomena. Hallie of Hallie\u2019s Heroes will also be a special guest, swabbing visitors and adding them to the National Bone Marrow Registry to help save the lives of those who need bone marrow transplants.<\/p>\n Cosplay, or dressing in costumes, will also be a much bigger feature this year. Visitors will meet many costumed characters and even take pictures with several movie replica vehicles. A children\u2019s cosplay contest for ages infant to 12 will take place on\u00a0Oct. 1, sponsored by Heroic Inner Kids and hosted by Unwrap the Magic Parties and Events.<\/p>\n For more information, visit\u00a0www.GranburyParanormalExpo.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0Expo organizer Brandy Herr can be reached at\u00a0GranburyGhosts@gmail.com\u00a0or\u00a0(817) 559-0849.<\/p>\n (Information from organization\u2019s press release)<\/p>\n Texas Writes is a statewide program of the Writers\u2019 League of Texas<\/span> that brings accomplished authors to rural libraries for a half day of presentations and panel discussions. Each event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n WLT has two Texas Writes events slated for September 2017, in locations as geographically diverse as Clifton (near Waco) and Shallowater (near Lubbock).<\/p>\n The first is in Clifton Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Bosque Arts Center. This event will feature TWO presentations \u2014 one at 10 a.m., with Greg Garrett<\/span> and Jennifer duBois, <\/span>and one at 1 p.m., featuring Meg Gardiner<\/span> and Jeremy Kraatz.<\/span><\/p>\n Garrett will be leading a session on how to write yourself into the story, and DuBois will do a workshop on how to move beyond your own personal narrative. In the afternoon, Gardiner will talk about how to ramp up the suspense in your stories, and Kraatz will discuss how to make dialogue work for you.<\/p>\n To pre-register for this event, contact the Nellie Pederson Library at (254) 675-6495.<\/p>\n The second September event is Texas Writes at the Shallowater School County Library Sat., Sept. 30, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event will feature presentations from authors Charlotte Gullick<\/span> and Donna Johnson.<\/span>\u00a0 Gullick will be conducting a workshop on incorporating the seasons into setting and character, and Johnson will be heading up a presentation on the role of imagination on memoir<\/p>\n To pre-register for this event, contact the library at (806) 832-4951.<\/p>\n Information from organization’s website<\/p>\n * * * * *<\/p>\n The award, for outstanding contributions to libraries and literacy in Dallas, is named for the longtime civic leader who led the campaign to open Dallas\u2019s first public library in 1899.<\/p>\n Among her achievements, Nasher spearheaded the opening of Bookmarks, the first public library branch for children in a commercial retail establishment in the United States, at NorthPark in 2008. Since then more than one million visitors have had the opportunity to enjoy the library and its wide variety of programs focused on promoting early literacy.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThe amazing success of Bookmarks is just one chapter in Nancy Nasher\u2019s long career of championing literacy in our city,\u201d said Kate Park,<\/span> FODPL executive director. \u201cShe has set an example of civic and business leadership for the whole country, and it is so fitting she should be honored as this year\u2019s Exall winner.\u201d<\/p>\n The annual banquet benefits Friends of the Dallas Public Library, the nonprofit organization that provides financial support and advocates for the city\u2019s twenty-nine libraries and their educational programs. Tickets are $175, and sponsorships are still available.<\/p>\n The gala\u2019s featured speaker will be Jonathan Eig, author of acclaimed biographies of Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and Al Capone, as well as The Birth of the Pill,<\/span> a fascinating saga of science, social attitudes and birth control. Ken Burns calls him \u201ca master storyteller.\u201d Eig\u2019s new book, Ali: A Life, <\/span>will be published October 3, and is already earning rave reviews.<\/p>\n May Dickson Exall<\/span>, a native Texan who died in 1986, was the Dallas Public Library\u2019s first president.\u00a0 She hosted art exhibitions in the library, which led to the establishment of the Dallas Museum of Art.<\/p>\n Nasher, a graduate of the Hockaday School, Princeton University, and Duke University School of Law, has long supported arts, education, health, and many other philanthropic causes in Dallas and around the country. For more than forty years Nancy and her husband, David J. Haemisegger, have dedicated their professional careers to making NorthPark one of the most successful and admired shopping centers in the United States.<\/p>\n Nasher said she was excited to create \u201ca dynamic educational space\u201d at NorthPark. \u201cFrom its inception, Bookmarks has been a vibrant and energetic learning destination dedicated to fostering a love of reading at an early age,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are so proud it serves over 150,000 children each year.\u201d<\/p>\n The banquet will be held at O\u2019Hara Hall on the seventh floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in downtown Dallas. For more information or to purchase tickets, log on to www.fodpl.org<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n (Information from organization\u2019s press release)<\/p>\n * * * * *<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Austin Book Arts Center announces Second Annual Birthday Bash<\/h1>\n![](\"https:\/\/lonestarliterary.etypegoogle10.com\/sites\/lonestarliterary.etypegoogle10.com\/files\/description\/cisneros%2c%20sandra_author%20photo%202017%20sm.jpg\")
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<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nEleventh annual Tom Lea Month invites fans of late author\/artist to experience the Tom Lea Trail, exhibitions, events<\/h1>\n
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<\/div>\nSchedule posted for Lubbock Book Festival, Oct. 28<\/h1>\n
S. C. Gwynne to headline with The Perfect Pass; Hank the Cowdog author John R. Erickson keynoter for children<\/h1>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nAuthor Charlaine Harris to headline Granbury Paranormal Expo, Sept. 30\u2013Oct. 1<\/h1>\n
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<\/span><\/span>GRANBURY \u2014 The Sixth Annual Granbury Paranormal Expo<\/span> will kick off the Halloween season on\u00a0Sept. 30, 2017,\u00a0from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and\u00a0Oct. 1\u00a0from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a street festival in the middle of Granbury\u2019s historic downtown square. This festival is free to the public and will feature ghost hunters, psychics, horror, sci-fi, cosplay, fantasy, and much more.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nTexas Lihip opportunities, ongoing education, and<\/h1>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nWriters\u2019 League of Texas\u2019s \u201cTexas Writes\u201d events set for September<\/h1>\n
Nancy A. Nasher to Receive May Dickson Exall Award from Library Group<\/h1>\n
Author Jonathan Eig to speak at Friends of the Dallas Public Library Gala<\/h1>\n
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<\/span><\/span>DALLAS \u2014 Nancy A. Nasher, owner of NorthPark Center, <\/span>will be honored with the May Dickson Exall Award at the Friends of the Dallas Public Library (FDPL) annual gala on Thursday, October 12.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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