The Texas Observer

Just in time for a pre-election reading binge, The Texas Book Festival returns to Austin November 1 and 2 with hundreds of authors and journalists (not to mention teachers and librarians) descending on the capitol building for literary hobnobbery and writerly good times. The sheer scope of the offerings can be intimidating, and you can’t see (or hear) everything, so you’ll need a game plan to maximize your time. May we suggest an Observer-centric approach? Try our admittedly biased schedule of writers in the Observer’s extended family, supplemented with writers we’ve recently written about. They’ve all got interesting things to say, and we recommend them highly.

There’ll be politics aplenty in the Capitol building’s House Chamber Saturday at the “Memo to the President-Elect” session. The Observer’s new editor, Bob Moser, most recently of The Nation magazine, will introduce himself to Austin and talk about his new book, Blue Dixie: Awakening the South’s Democratic Majority (excerpted in the Oct. 31 Observer here), while Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat, of The Atlantic, will discuss their new book, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream. Saturday 3:00-4:00 p.m., House Chamber.

Long-time Observer contributing writer Robert Bryce appears on a panel titled “Bubblin’ Crude: The Life and Times of Oil.” You can find the Observer’s excerpt of his recent book, Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of “Energy Independence,” here. Saturday 1:30-2:30 p.m., House Chamber.

Observer columnist and former editor Jim Hightower will discuss his new book on real live mavericks, Swim Against the Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow. Saturday 11:00-11:45 a.m., Capitol Extension E2.014.

Economist and Observer contributing writer James K. Galbraith will talk about his new book, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. Check out the Observer’s excerpt of the book here. Sunday 12:30-1:15 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.014.

Former Observer editor Geoff Rips will participate in the panel “Evoking a Sense of Place” with writers Sara Roahen, Carmen Tafolla, and Tom Piazza. Rips’ debut novel, The Truth, won the 2006 Association of Writers and Writing Programs prize. Check out some of his work for the Observer here. Saturday 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.016.

Regular Observer book reviewer James E. McWilliams will discuss the history of American insects and efforts to exterminate them—the subject of his recent book American Pests: The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT, in the “Cultural Collisions” panel. Read McWilliams’ Observer writing on the politics of food here and here. Saturday 2:00-3:00 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.106.

Gary Keith, an Observer contributor, will discuss his biography of Bob Eckhardt during the panel, “Texas Political Giants: Bullock, Briscoe, Eckhardt.” Keith’s book, Eckhardt: There Once Was a Congressman from Texas, is reviewed in the Observer here. Saturday 12:30-1:30 p.m., Senate Chamber.

Lou Dubose, former Observer editor and co-author with Molly Ivins of Bill of Wrongs: The Executive Branch’s Assault on America’s Fundamental Rights, introduces Jeremy Scahill, who will discuss his Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Sunday 12:30-1:15 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.026.

After years of writing about Willie Nelson and his music in magazines far and wide, Joe Nick Patoski recently published the definitive biography, Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, Patoski, a regular Observer contributor, has written on the Austin music scene here and Texas culture here. Sunday 1:30-2:15 p.m., Capitol Extension E2.026.

The Texas Book Festival is also chock-full of authors who have been the subject of Observer reviews. Here’s a sampling.

Gary Hartman’s The History of Texas Music is reviewed here by Michael Hoinski. Saturday 2:00-3:00 p.m., Music Tent.

The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, by Bill Bishop and Robert Cushing, is reviewed here by Char Miller. Saturday 12:00-1:00 p.m., House Chamber.

Philip Gourevitch collaborated with Errol Morris on the book, Standard Operating Procedure, which accompanies the movie of the same name. Gourevitch will appear twice on Saturday: 12:00-12:45 p.m. in Capitol Extension 2.012, and 8:00-9:30 p.m. at the Continental Club. In the first event, Gourevitch will discuss his work as a journalist, while in the second he’ll converse with novelist and The Wire writer Richard Price. Observer contributor Edward Nawotka wrote about Standard Operating Procedure and other war-on-terror narratives here, and he will moderate the panel “Reading the Classics for Pleasure” on Saturday, 11:00-11:45 a.m., Capitol Extension 2.012.

Bud Shrake’s Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin “Bud” Shrake Reader is reviewed here by Stayton Bonner. Shrake has previously been recognized by the festival for lifetime achievement with a Bookend Award. Saturday 12:00-12:45 p.m., Capitol Extension 2.014.

C.E. Hunt’s Big Thicket People: Larry Jene Fisher’s Photographs of the Last Southern Frontier is reviewed here by Stayton Bonner. Saturday 2:00-2:45 p.m., Capitol Extension 2.010.

See the entire schedule of events here.

Readers of David Theis’ August 8 Observer feature, “A Poet Without Borders,” about acclaimed Houston poet Fady Joudah, may have noticed the connection between Joudah and internationally renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Joudah translated Darwish’s poem “The Butterfly Burden” from the original Arabic, garnering Joudah the Saif Ghobash-Banipal prize.

The 67-year-old Darwish died Saturday in Houston from complications due to heart surgery, The New York Times reports.

Darwish was known for his strong, and oftentimes political voice representing both the Palestinian cause and the human spirit. Growing up in a village near Haifa, Israel, Darwish and his family were forced into exile, but he eventually made his way back to Palestine in the mid-’90s, settling in Ramallah. He developed his taste for political activism early, and is credited as the writer of the Palestinian declaration of independent statehood in 1988.

The most-translated Arab poet, Darwish will be remembered as an influential shaper of Palestinian cultural and national identity.

He will be buried in Ramallah after a state funeral service in the West Bank on Tuesday.

—Reported by Mary Tuma

Heads-up that Observer contributor and Houston native (never mind his self-imposed New York City exile) Robert Leleux is scheduled to give a reading in his hometown Thursday night, June 5. The occasion comes hot on the heels of the grand opening of downtown H-town’s recently renovated Central Public Library, and marks the kick-off of the library’s new LGBT reading series. Leleux, author of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy (from which he’ll read) and several fine Observer pieces you can peruse here and here (plus another you’ll have to buy our July 11 “Summer Books” issue to check out), will be preceded by the Houston Pride Band, and accompanied, no doubt, by much proud hootin’ and hollerin’ from family, friends, and fans of fine humor writing. The reading is slated for 7 p.m., and Leleux will autograph his book afterward. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by and give him a hand.

It’s a banner week for Texas book lovers, Observer nerds, and acolytes of soon-to-be-75 icon Willie Nelson.

First up, tonight, Wednesday April 23, former Observer editor and current columnist Jim Hightower stops in at Austin’s BookPeople to sign copies of Swim Against the Current, the collection of progressive success stories the straw-hatted populist penned with partner Susan DeMarco. You can read an Observer excerpt of the book here, then drop by and pick up your own autographed copy tonight at 7 p.m.

Next up is veteran journalist and Observer contributor Joe Nick Patoski, signing copies of his forthcoming tome Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, at Waterloo Records in Austin on Friday, April 25, at 5 pm. Patoski has already written definitive biographies of Stevie Ray Vaughan (co-authored with Bill Crawford) and Selena, and his Willie book is set to become the jewel in his triple crown of Texas music biographies.

And finally, come Saturday, April 26, Texas literature legend Bud Shrake, author of the novel Strange Peaches, the mega-selling Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, and some early (read: pre-archived) journalism for the Observer, celebrates the publication of Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin “Bud” Shrake Reader, published by Texas State University’s Southwestern Writers Collection Series, which just happens to include a decades-old piece on Austin’s perennially receeding hip factor originally published in the Observer’s very pages. There’ll be a reading from Shrake’s work at 7 p.m. and a book-signing with Shrake and collection editor Steven L. Davis afterward. The hoo-hah happens on the 7th floor of Texas State’s Alkek Library in San Marcos. Call 512-245-2313 for more info.

While we were all reading Molly Ivins — her books, her columns, her quips — what was Molly reading?

That question isn’t entirely answered by the exhibit that opened a few days ago at Texas State University in San Marcos, but it’s clear she was reading, and reading a lot. “Molly Ivins’ Library,” on view at the campus’ Alkek Library, displays just a smattering of the 3,500 books from Molly’s personal library recently gifted by brother Andrew Ivins, but the collection shows a voracious reader’s catholic breadth, from the touching (a small leather-bound Bible) to the delightful (a book of pastry recipes from the Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe) to the distasteful (Ann Coulter’s Treason).

Seems Molly had a fondness for biography (LBJ, Mark Twain, Anton Chekhov and Albert Camus all get shelf space) and a soft spot for fiction (novels by P.D. James and Stephen Harrigan, among others).

As befits an author of renown in her own right, Molly’s collection also held inscribed gems from colleagues, cohorts, and well-wishers.

“Wish I could write like you!” former Speaker of the House Jim Wright wrote on his own book’s title page.

“Dear Twin,” Maya Angelou’s inscription began.

“To Molly…who done knows how much I love her,” gushed John Henry Faulk.

Heavyweights like Jim Crumley and Bud Shrake weigh in with signed editions as well, but the capper has to be Nancy Reagan’s mysteriously giddy inscription on her own memoir: “Mooch all you can, baby…”

But as glamorous as the high-end literary back-patting must have been, the fact remains that Molly’s collection was no mere vanity, but a genuine working library.

How can you tell? The presence of The Idiot’s Guide to Positive Dog Training is a dead giveaway.

Observer readers, perhaps more than most, are accustomed to reading the ugly truth, but never let it be said that our writers don’t enjoy making stuff up, too. Case in point: The Truth, the debut novel by former Observer editor and current contributor Geoff Rips, who also happens to sit on the board of the Texas Democracy Foundation, which publishes the Observer, but who has never, ever looked over our shoulder as we pecked out a blog post promoting his book. Honest.

Rips will be signing copies at Austin’s BookPeople (603 N. Lamar) on Thursday, March 27, at 7 p.m., then again next month at San Antonio’s The Twig (5005 Broadway) on Wednesday, April 30, at 5 p.m.

Want a taste before committing your precious time? Check out the excerpt we published in our January books issue.

Regular readers will be pleased to learn that former Observer editor and syndicated columnist/rabble-rouser Jim Hightower is back between hardcovers with Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go with the Flow (John Wiley & Sons). A breezily positive-thinking antidote to the necessary negativity that pervades so much of the non-mainstream muckraking media (mea culpa! mea culpa!), Swim Against the Current unearths the success stories of activists, dissidents and go-their-own-way go-getters who’ve abandoned apathy and found ways to buck whatever oppressive, greed-guided or simply wrongheaded system was telling them no. It’s downright inspirational.

And in the spirit of doing well by doing good, Hightower and co-author/accomplice Susan DeMarco are celebrating the book’s release with a “hoo-rah” and booksigning on Thursday, March 20, from 5 to 8 pm at Austin’s Boggy Creek Farm (3414 Lyons Road; 512-926-4650). There’ll be music by The Lovers and La Strada, plenty of local food and drink, and, as befits an event promoting the work of a former Texas Ag Commissioner, the $10 suggested donation benefits the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

For more Hightower appearances nationwide, check out the schedule on his website.

And just to put it on your radar, look for an excerpt from Swim Against the Current in the April 4 issue of the Texas Observer.