• October 2014
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Texas Book Festival Features Austin Female Authors

Details on 10 local writers’ new books and appearances at the 2014 fest.

Natalia Sylvester: The Domino Effect

Sunday, 1 to 2 p.m.

Capitol Extension Room E2.010

Natalia Sylvester was born in Lima, Peru, before migrating to South Florida at the age of 4. Her debut novel, Chasing the Sun, returns her to her hometown of Lima to tell the dramatic story of a wealthy couple struggling to maintain their marriage when the wife, Marabela, is kidnapped. Andres, the husband, must try to negotiate with the kidnappers to save his wife, all the while attempting to comfort his children.

Read our June 2014 review of Chasing the Sun in Five Summer Page Turners.

Sarah Bird: Texas Writer Award

Saturday, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

House Chamber

In Sarah Bird’s Above the East China Sea, the reader peers into the lives of two girls, Luz and Tamiko, dealing with self-defeat in wartime during two entirely different time periods. This coming-of-age story shares how the girls’ lives are shaped by war as familial relationships and communities are destroyed around them. Despite these hardships, both girls learn lessons about the power of love and relationships.

Read our September 2014 review of Above the East China Sea and interview with Sarah Bird in Austin Author Pens Her Ninth Novel.

Elizabeth Crook: A Texas Tragedy

Saturday, 2 to 3 p.m.

Texas Tent

Elizabeth Crook’s most recent novel, Monday, Monday, opens on the mass shooting that took place at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966. The main character, Shelly, injured by the sniper, forms a bond with the two cousins who save her, Jack and Wyatt. Throughout the years, her relationships with the two cousins develop, intensifying their bond even further.

Read more about Elizabeth Crook in our October 2014 cover story on Elizabeth Crook, Kat Candler and Elizabeth McQueen.

Carrie Fountain: The Modern Myth

Sunday, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Capitol Extension Room E2.012

In Carrie Fountain’s second collection of poems, Instant Winner is presented in the form of prayers and meditations. Throughout this collection, Fountain explores spirituality and the domestic as she deals with parenthood, spiritual searching and the experience of being a self.

Jennifer Ziegler: Capers, Cons and Catastrophes

Sunday, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Capitol Extension Room E2.2026

Jennifer Ziegler’s latest young-adult novel, Revenge of the Flower Girls, stars the 11-year-old Brewster triplets, who, in their opinion, are about to watch their sister marry the wrong man. The triplets do all they can to put an end to the wedding, from altering the slideshow, to secretly changing the rehearsal-dinner food. But do their wedding pranks successfully cancel the wedding?

Lindsey Lane: Unfinished Business

Sunday, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Capitol Extension Room E2.028

Lindsey Lane’s debut young-adult novel, Evidence of Things Not Seen, deals with the disappearance of Tommy, a high-school junior who believes in the possibility of anything until proven wrong. The novel is told through first-person narratives of people who knew Tommy. Therefore, the reader is exposed to Tommy’s personality and his story through the eyes of his friends, family, community members and strangers.

Nikki Loftin: Do You Believe in Magic?

Saturday, 1:15 to 2:15 p.m.

Capitol Extension Room E2.026

Nikki Loftin’s young-adult novel, Nightingale’s Nest, tells the story of John Fischer Jr., a boy whose family is crumbling after the death of his sister. Despite his father’s and mother’s own issues and the family’s financial situation, John discovers friendship and comfort in his new friend, Gayle. Shortly after meeting, he is presented with an unexpected dilemma that requires him to choose his family or his new friendship.

Bethany Hegedus: Grandfather Gandhi

Saturday, 10 to 11 a.m.

Family Life Center

In Bethany Hegedus’ children’s novel Grandfather Gandhi, Hegedus works with Arun Gandhi, one of Mahatma Gandhi’s grandsons, to create a picture-book biography of his grandfather. The story is told through mixed-media collages and words of Arun’s struggle to share his grandfather and the difficulty of meeting the expectations placed on him.

Camille Styles: Entertaining with Camille Styles

Saturday, 4 to 5 p.m.

Texas Tent

Camille Styles is a lifestyle blogger and event stylist in Austin. Her book, Camille Styles Entertaining: Inspired Gatherings and Effortless Style, is complete with how-to guidelines for creating party themes to table designs, DIY projects and recipes that are approachable for anyone who is planning on entertaining.

Read our November 2013 cover story on Camille Styles.

Elizabeth McCracken: Mutual Appreciation Society

Saturday, 12:45 to 1:45 p.m.

Capitol Extension Room E2.028

Elizabeth McCracken’s latest collection, titled Thunderstruck & Other Stories, features nine short-fiction stories. The reader is immersed and invested in each story as a new character’s life is introduced. McCracken creates fiction that unfolds quickly but with great detail in such a short amount of space. 

Cathleen Sutherland: Boyhood: Twelve Years on Film

Sunday, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

House Chamber

Cathleen Sutherland is the producer of Boyhood. This unique movie filmed for 12 years, capturing Ellar Coltrane’s character, Mason, as he grew up in different areas of Texas. Boyhood offers a coming-of-age story like none other as the viewer sees snippets of important milestones throughout Mason’s childhood and teenage years.

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