Texas Pages

As the state's librarians convene in Dallas, the Texas Book Festival today is announcing that it is awarding more than $200,000 in grants this year to 72 public libraries.

The festival has awarded more than $2 million in library grants since 1996.

In a state that traditionally has struggled to properly support its libraries, every little bit helps.

Meanwhile, fans of the festival can mark their calendars and book their hotel rooms for Nov. 1 and 2.

UPDATE: Here's a look at the local libraries that will benefit. Spokesperson David Shaw says via e-mail that the Dallas area will get about $22,500 or a little more than 10 percent of the statewide total..

David and Robin LaBounty, who publish The First Line up in Plano, were in Austin viewing the festival from a different perspective: As exhibitors.

Read their take on things, and see some photos, at their site.

While we're at it -- they told me that Dallas's lack of a large independent bookstore has made it difficult to sell their quarterly journal, which has been coming out successfully for a decade, here in their hometown. Anybody want to suggest possible sites for them?

Clay Smith, literary director of the Texas Book Festival, has had a chance to catch his breath and reflect for a moment on the weekend. Here are some final tidbits from the festival:

The crowds: Anecdotally, Clay says, the crowds seemed to hold steady from last year. "I didn’t hear about panels being miserably underattended. I think the difference is that in 2005 and 2006, the crowds were there early," for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. "The difference this year is that we had the same number of people, but they came as the day progressed."

Who was hot: Early Sunday, Jeffrey Toobin packed the House chamber to discuss the Supreme Court. He was followed by an equally popular Carl Bernstein (discussed elsewhere on this blog.)

Jenna Bush's event was full, as was George Saunders and Marlee Matlin. Diane Ackerman and Joseph Ellis also drew healthy crowds, Clay says.

Padma Lakshmi packed her event, as were many others in the cooking tent, Clay says. The new Lifestyles tent as a whole was a success, and Clay says it will return.

While I was in Austin, apparently there was some kind of racecar thing over north of Fort Worth.

Which brings to mind this comment from Roy Blount Jr.'s reading in the House chamber. Roy was explaining that although he does not fit the mold of the stereotypical Southerner, he hasn't adopted all the ways of the frozen North, either:

"I don't like hockey. And it may be a bad thing to say in this great House, but I don't like NASCAR. The only way to get me to watch NASCAR would be to have them run over a hockey player every couple of laps."

I suspect that, on a books blog, he might find some kindred souls.

Jim Lehrer, author of "Eureka," was a late addition to the festival. I caught up with him just long enough to hear this great tale about his beginnings in journalism -- at The Dallas Morning News.

His first job? Writing obituaries.

He says, "I did an obit that said, 'Funeral services for Lamar N. Smith are pending Friday for Billy Bob ... Whatever. And it turned out that Lamar & Smith was the funeral home. And Billy Bob was the deceased."

"The editor came over to me and said to me, essentially" -- and here his voice shifted to a menacing drawl -- " 'Lil' boy, there are a lot of important things at this newspaper. But there is nothin' more important than gettin' the name of the God-damned deceased right in an obit!"

I told Mr. Lehrer, who has won almost every honor available to a broadcast journalist, "You seem to have recovered from that."

"Yeah, I got over it," he said. "But I also never forgot it."

Allow your humble blogger to close out this wave of reports with an indulgent moment, which also shows the terrific diversity of interests represented at the festival.

As someone who has always been passionate about the power of journalism, it was an honor for me to have a few moments someone as iconic as Mr. Bernstein. And to hear him swap a few stories with fellow journalism icon and author, Jim Lehrer. (More on that later.)

But after our conversation, I found myself outside the Capitol, not too far away from the children's tent, which for the most part I have avoided.

The person doing the reading was one Roscoe Orman, who did a reading from the book he just wrote and illustrated, "Ricky and Mobo." Mr. Orman was a delightful reader, patient and respectful with the children, equally pleasant to their parents.

Most of whom, like me, know him only as "Gordon," from "Sesame Street." Which we watched almost every day of our late '60s-early '70s childhoods. (except when the Watergate hearings were on, as I recall.)

Yeah, I got to go up and shake his hand.

I love this festival.

In a short interview after his speech, Mr. Bernstein offered some fresh insight on Hillary Clinton's performance in last week's debates:

"I think if there is a watershed moment, to use a cliche, in the campaign that has interrupted this notion of inevitibility, that debate was probably it. ... Hillary Rodham Clinton has had a difficult relationship to the truth."

He says her campaign has been designed to partly to help her avoid such questions, "and now they will have been unsuccessful at avoiding it. And that's what the campaign represents -- a failure to keep that question from coming front and center."

"Now both the opponents and the voters, I think, are confronting this aspect of her history. And that's a big change from two weeks ago."

Asked to use his expertise to predict how she would respond, he said: "The worst thing I am is a predictor. You're talking to somebody who thought O.J. Simpson was gonna be convicted. I'm very bad at predicting. But I think part of it is in a statement that I just saw online. They trotted out Bruce Lindsey to say he hadn't been instructed to keep anything secret. Well, that's not the question. Again, it's kind of obfuscation."

Carl Bernstein -- who is scheduled to speak at the Barnes & Noble, Preston at Royal at 7 p.m. Tuesday -- had the first standing-room-only event of the weekend that I attended. And his discourse on Hillary Clinton kept the crowd enthralled from beginning to end.

I thought I knew a bit about Mrs. Clinton, but his insights seemed sharp and especially timely, given her prospects in the upcoming primaries. I have always thought of her as a purely political creature. Her foundation, he says, is in religion and family. “It turns out, her religiosity is the key to everything,” he says.

Her dedication to family, he says, helps explain why she never left Bill Clinton despite his infidelities.

He noted how unlikely it would have seemed a few years ago to be talking about her as a serious presidential contender. But he notes her ambition: The very moment the Senate was voting at the climax of the impeachment crisis, she was in an office with Harold Ickes, going over a map of New York, analyzing her prospects for a Senate run.

“She pulled it off,” he said. “Don’t underestimate her.”

His remarks were mostly nonpartisan, but the crowd showed its leanings toward the end of his discussion, when he discussed the prospects of a woman being elected president. He noted that Ms. Clinton was certainly viable; he suggested that Kay Bailey Hutchison would have been as well. Then he added, “We certainly couldn’t do much worse than we have done.”

To which the Austinite crowd erupted with riotous applause.

We reviewed his book favorably when it came out, but his comments made me want to go out and get a copy myself.

I realize it’s the big names – the Carl Bernsteins, the Roy Blount Jrs. – who bring people out to the festival. But I’ve decided that the real spirit of the event lies in the smaller sessions.

Last year, it was sessions on Texas nature writing and rising Texas writers that stuck with me the longest. And this year, the best exchanges I have seen took place in yesterday’s “revenge” session and my first panel of this morning, “Stretching Exercises: How I Became Someone Else in My Fiction.”

Among the writers: Wesley Stace, whose novel “By George” is partly written from the point of view of ventriloquist’s dummy; Darryl Wimberly, a middle-aged white male who wrote “The King of Colored Town” from the point of view of an African-American girl at the end of the segregation era; Clifford Chase, who wrote “Winky” from the point of view of his teddy bear, of the same name; and Kim Powers, who took on the personas of Truman Capote and Harper Lee in “Capote in Kansas: A Ghost Story.”

Any aspiring writer or involved reader would have enjoyed the non-scholarly discussion on technique. Especially when it contains revelations such as Mr. Chase pointing out that Winky, a real bear, had been inherited from his mother, who called him “Marie.”

“So he’s also a transgendered bear,” he noted.

And Mr. Stace brought along the actual dummy that had inspired his book, one that his grandfather had once used. When asked how he came up with the dummy’s voice in the novel, he replied: “Just look at him!”

Writers hearing voices and transgendered bears. Interesting way to start off a Sunday morning.

I am starting my Sunday at the Book Festival at the Little City coffee house on Congress Avenue, a block from the Capitol. This is the second year in a row I have done so. I guess that makes it a ritual.

The coffee is sweet, the music is "Abbey Road," the walls are covered in funky art and another day of interacting with really smart people lies ahead. The vibe is so perfect it has me wondering: Why can't we do this in Dallas?

As I see it, all we have to do is relocate the captial, import the university and its Ransom center and a few thousand intellectuals, tear down a Starbucks or two to add an independent coffee shop, and presto! We have a book festival!

Hmm. Maybe there is more to it than that.

OK, try this: I could envision something at Fair Park, Dallas' most underused cultural gem. Something in the spring, to catch all the touring authors not hitting the Austin festival. (Let's assume there are plenty of authors to support our festival and not detract from the excellent author series already in town, such as Arts & Letters Live, Writers Studio and the others.)

I'm not sure who could rally the thousands of volunteers and millions of dollars necessary for such an undertaking, but consider this: Laura Bush established the Austin festival. Then she duplicated it in Washington, D.C.

Say what you will about her taste in husbands, but the lady knows bookfests.

She's allegedly moving to Dallas. And will have a lot of time on her hands while Mr. Bush builds his library.

Hey Mrs. Bush -- whaddya say?

Here's more scenes from Austin courtesy of Rick Barrick:

Joseph Ellis, while signing "American Creation" on Saturday, said that tours that promote his books can be frustrating. He likened them to a political campaign because he is in one city one day and another one the next. His favorite part of a book tour is answering questions.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison takes a Sharpie to the back of Earlene Jackson's T-shirt Saturday at the Texas Book Festival in Austin. Ms. Jackson, of Georgetown, was a volunteer. When asked what were the weirdest items she'd ever signed, Ms. Hutchison paused. Other T-shirts, she remembered, galleries of books, a motorcycle. Then she recalled, "A man asked me to sign his arm." The man planned to get the signature tattooed, Ms. Hutchison said. She is the author of "Leading Ladies."

Joe Ely, a Texan singer-songwriter, signs "Bonfire of Roadmaps." "Body parts, cars, ceiling fans," Mr. Ely replied to a question about weird items he's been asked to sign. "And a gas pump in Georgia. Give me a Sharpie and I'll go for it."

Rick Barrick offers these views from Saturday's events:

Lynne Cheney smiles after signing her book, Blue Skies, No Fences, about noon Saturday

Bud Shrake, author of "Custer's Brother's Horse," was one of the slowest signers at the festival Saturday. It could be because any question from a fan fetched a story from Mr. Shrake: He remembered that Bootlegger's Boy, the autobiography of Barry Switzer he helped write, was the subject of a multimillion dollar lawsuit that failed.

Jenna Bush, author of "Ana's Story" and daughter of President Bush, said \ that going to high schools is her favorite part of her book tour "because I like to talk with the kids."

I just witnessed another classic TBF moment: the sight of Tom Perrotta reading a section from "The Abstinence Teacher," where a group of reprobate sex-ed teachers discuss sexual encounters they regretted.

I can't quote it. But as he said, this is language that certainly has been used in the Texas House chamber before. Just never at a microphone.

Historian Joseph J. Ellis, speaking on why he goes back to the 18th century so often to find interesting subjects, quoted noted literary expert Willie Sutton who, when asked why he robbed banks, replied: “That’s where the money is.”

Mr. Ellis was talking about the historical mother lode in that part of history. Given his popularity, it might be a literal truth for him as well.

His presentation showed why he has found such success: He was lively, funny, thoughtful and able to hold forth on whatever topics got thrown at him.

This morning’s session on “Getting Even: The Literature of Revenge” was the TBF at its best: A panel full of interesting writers, room full of eager listeners, and the prospect of a fistfight.

OK, that’s a little hyperbole. But Bud Shrake and Shalom Auslander did have a tasty exchange about the nature of Mr. Auslander’s anti-God book, “Foreskin’s Lament.”

Mr. Shrake said it was “egocentric" to envision a vengeful God who spends his time thinking up ways to single out a misbehaving individual.

Mr. Auslander shot back: “I didn’t make it up.”

Mr. Shrake also eloquently traced the history of revenge writing back to “Merchant of Venice.”

Mr. Auslander told him: “Shakespeare’s got nothing on God.”

Unlike last year, some of this year’s venues seem to be swallowing up some of their speakers. Kristin Gore was warmly received by those who filled the Senate chamber to hear her – but it was a bit of a strain for those of us in the cheap seats. (That’s what I get for trying to sneak in late after covering another event in the same time slot.)

Alas, I missed Jenna Bush entirely, so I can’t give you a comparision of crowds for offspring of presidents and those who might have been president.

So many authors ahead … such an easy building to get lost in. But it leads to great overheard elevator conversations:

“Are we going up, or down?”

“I hope I’m going to see Barbara Jordan.”

“Barbara Jordan is no longer with us.”

“Not to me. In my mind, she lives forever.”

Author Max Sherman (“Barbara Jordan: Speaking the Truth With Eloquent Thunder”) can look forward to one rabid fan if she finds her way there.

The streetside vendors are warming up the gyros; country music fills the street outside; and the accordian player is tuning up below the microphone where the Texas Speaker of the House usually stands.

Must be time for a book festival.

It’s a lovely day for a festival. There’s not a cloud in the ceiling. I’ll post observations as time and internet connections allow.

The list of authors is ever-growing for the Nov. 3-4 event. Here are the latest additions, not yet visible on the festival's Web site.

Sherman Alexie - "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian"
Douglas Brinkley - "The Reagan Diaries"
Johnny Bush - "Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonk"
Roz Chast - "The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z!"
Todd Gitlin - "The Bulldozer and the Big Tent: Blind Republicans, Lame Democrats, and the Recovery of American Ideals"
Kristin Gore - "Sammy’s House"
Elmer Kelton - "Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer"
Marlee Matlin - "Leading Ladies"
Cullen Murphy - "Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America"
Editors from The Onion - "The Onion: Our Dumb World: Atlas of the Planet Earth"
Jerry Pinkney- "Little Red Riding Hood"
Joshua Piven- "Bad vs. Worse: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lose-Lose Decisions; Piven co-wrote the Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook titles"
George Saunders- "The Braindead Megaphone: Essays"
Bud Shrake- "Custer’s Brother’s Horse"
Maxine Swann- "Flower Children: A Novel"
David Talbot- "Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years"
Alice Waters- "The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution"
Mo Willems- "There Is a Bird on Your Head!"