Category Archives: Authors

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Preston Lewis

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Tuesday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m. (Central) with award-winning western author, Preston Lewis.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean, will discuss his life and his Memoirs of H. H. Lomax series, starting with DEMISE OF BILLY THE KID (DBC 26457). Following the talk, there will be a Q&A session.

Our Author Talks are held via Zoom, but you can join using just a telephone!

Participating is easy:

  • Use your landline to dial in via phone.
  • Use the “one-tap” number on your smartphone.
  • Alternatively, join via computer using the Zoom invitation we’ll send a week prior to the event.

To ensure you receive the necessary details, please RSVP in advance.

We invite you to ask Preston Lewis questions about his book series. Please submit your questions by April 15. We will select questions based on the responses, and they may be asked during the event! Fill out the form here: Author Questions

To RSVP, you can fill out our online registration form: Register Here

Or if you prefer, reply to this email or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605.

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge with his book or if you prefer to download it from BARD. Also, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

DEMISE OF BILLY THE KID (DBC 26457) by Preston Lewis.

NLS Annotation: “H.H. Lomax never claimed to have won the West, but he sure made it fun through his intriguing memoirs of offbeat encounters with many of the frontier’s most enduring heroes and scoundrels. Starting with Billy the Kid, Lomax knocks some of the Old West’s biggest legends out of the saddle with both his wit and his wits, providing a hilarious romp over new trails through familiar territory. After a murky incident involving the killing of a Colorado lawyer, Lomax rides into New Mexico Territory in 1877 astride his mule Flash and soon finds himself roped into a band of rustlers until Billy the Kid drafts Lomax as the first member of his own gang. Though their trails soon part, Lomax and the Kid cross paths time and again as each in his own way navigates the corruption and violence of the Lincoln County War. Each survives until they both take a liking to the same hot-tempered señorita. At least that’s how Lomax tells the story! Whether you believe him or not, Lomax is sure to entertain anyone who takes up his trail of calamity and hilarity as he stumbles across some of the biggest names of the Old West.”–from the publisher. Violence and strong language. 2015.

We look forward to having you join us on Tuesday, April 22!

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Harry Hunsicker

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Thursday, February 20 at 7:00 p.m. (Central) with Texas Thriller author, Henry Hunsicker.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean will talk with him about his career as an author as well as his book, STILL RIVER: A LEE HENRY OSWALD MYSTERY. Following the talk, there will be a Q&A session.A Q&A chat will follow.

Our Author Talks are held via Zoom, but you can join using just a telephone! Participating is easy:

  • Use your landline to dial in via phone.
  • Use the “one-tap” number on your smartphone.
  • Alternatively, join via computer using the Zoom invitation we’ll send a week prior to the event.

To ensure you receive the necessary details, please RSVP in advance.

We invite you to ask Harry Hunsicker questions about his book. Please submit your questions by February. We will select questions based on the responses to this form, and they may be asked during the event!

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ShareFormPage.aspx?id=_3tZpDifRUGgM0ohaDmaXpEw_c_Y9elOm8rvPNh2aWFUMTRTVU1VNTYzRTdRVjROOExSMjVDSjQ5US4u&sharetoken=m1dMlXIuF8rxFHdeo4fK

To RSVP, you can fill out our online registration form: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYpcuigqTsiHdyEnNJPeodfE9FxQeIlb2pF

Or if you prefer, reply to this email, or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605.

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge with his book or if you prefer to download it from BARD. Also, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

STILL RIVER: A LEE HENRY OSWALD MYSTERY by Harry Hunsicker (DBC 18169)

NLS Annotation: An appeal from a high school acquaintance to find her missing brother, whom the unfortunately named Dallas private detective, Lee Henry Oswald protected from bullies’ decades earlier, leads to a maze of real estate deals somehow involving a violent drug gang. Strong language, violence, and some descriptions of sex. 2005.

We look forward to having you join us on Thursday, February 20!

In His Own Words: Quincy Jones

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Quincy Delight Jones Jr. was an American record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and producer. His career spanned 70 years, with 28 Grammy Awards won out of 80 nominations, and a Grammy Legend Award in 1992. Below we have his autobiography as well as a collection of his musings on creativity and life. We hope these give you a chance to learn about his experiences in his own words.

Q: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF QUINCY JONES (DB 53304)
12 NOTES: ON LIFE AND CREATIVITY (DB 115128)

2024 Texas Writer Award – Naomi Shihab Nye

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San Antonio-based poet, educator, and editor Naomi Shihab Nye has been named the 2024 Texas Writer Award recipient. The award honors a writer who has made outstanding contributions to Texas literature. Nye will be honored with a custom pair of handmade boots from renowned El Paso-based bootmaker, Rocketbuster, during a special Texas Book Festival Weekend ceremony. Learn more about Nye’s work and life in her interview with TBF Literary Director Hannah Gabel. Check out the interview on the Texas Book Festival’s website.

Included are all of Nye’s books in the NLS Collection:

Adult

HUGGING THE JUKEBOX (DBC 26934)

Juvenile

A MAZE ME: POEMS FOR GIRLS (DB 95437) Grades 6-9
CAST AWAY: POEMS FOR OUR TIME (DB 98613, BR 23778) Grades 6-9
EVERYTHING COMES NEXT: COLLECTED & NEW POEMS (DB 101676) Grades 3-6
HONEYBEE: POEMS & SHORT PROSE (DB 109497) Grades 4-7
SPACE BETWEEN OUR FOOTSTEPS: POEMS AND PAINTINGS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST (DB 50238) Grades 6-9
THIS SAME SKY: COLLECTION OF POEMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD (DB 48296) Grades 5-8
TURTLE OF MICHIGAN: A NOVEL (DB 108881) Grades 3-6
TURTLE OF OMAN (DB 109496) Grades 3-6
VOICES IN THE AIR: POEMS FOR LISTENERS (DB 90690) Grades 6-9
WHAT HAVE YOU LOST? POEMS (DB 50773) Grades 6-9

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Ken Roberts

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Tuesday, December 10 at 6:00 p.m. (Central) with Texas author Ken Roberts. Note that this time is a bit earlier than our usual author talks.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean will talk with him about his career as an academic as well as his book, CEDAR CHOPPERS: LIFE ON THE EDGE OF NOTHING. A Q&A chat will follow.

Promo image of stage with red curtain and old fashioned chrome microphone, photo of smiling Ken Roberts, with TBP and TSLAC logos and text mirroring post caption.

Our Author Talks meet via Zoom, however all you need to participate is a telephone! If you have a land line, you will use the telephone number. If you have a smart phone, you will use the “one-tap” number to join the discussion. We will also email a Zoom invitation to those who prefer to use a computer. This information will be sent to all patrons who RSVP a week prior to the author talk.

We would also like to offer you the opportunity to ask Dr. Roberts questions about his book. Please submit questions by December 3. We will choose questions based on the responses to this form and they may be asked during the event!

Submit Questions Here

To RSVP, please email us at tbpRAL@tsl.texas.gov, or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605.

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge or if you prefer to download his book from BARD. Also, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

CEDAR CHOPPERS: LIFE ON THE EDGE OF NOTHING by Ken Roberts (DBC 18531)

During his pre-teen years, Ken Roberts had his first encounter with cedar choppers west of Austin, which provoked the question, “Who are these people?”. THE CEDAR CHOPPERS: LIFE ON THE EDGE OF NOTHING is his entertaining, and informative answer. Based on interviews with several generations of cedar choppers and others, Roberts weaves together the lively, gritty story of these largely Scots-Irish migrants with roots in Appalachia who settled on the west side of the Balcones Fault during the mid-19th century, subsisting on hunting, trapping, moonshining, and, by the early 20th century, cutting, transporting, and selling cedar fence posts and charcoal. Strong language and some violence. 2018.

We look forward to having you join us on Tuesday, December 10!

Nobel Prize in Literature Winner 2024 – Han Kang

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South Korean author Han Kang took the Nobel Prize in literature this year for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life,” according the Swedish Academy. For more information, check out the Nobel Prize website.

Books by Han Kang in the TBP Collection:

GREEK LESSONS (DB 114737)
Original Date: 2023
HUMAN ACTS (DB 87312)
Original Date: 2017
VEGETARIAN (DB 83452, español DBG 19990)
Original Date: 2016
WHITE BOOK (DB 94272)
Original Date: 2019

2024 MacArthur Fellows

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The MacArthur Fellowship is a “no-strings-attached” award in support of people who show exceptional creativity, a promise for future important advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments, and potential for subsequent creative work.

Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or individuals in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations.

By providing these individuals with unfettered support in pursuit of creative activities, the Fellows Program seeks to:

  • Cultivate the next generation of innovators;
  • Highlight the importance of imaginative thinking in creating objects of beauty that inspire;
  • Spotlight the value of risk-taking in addressing deep-rooted societal problems; and
  • Influence how people think about creativity.

The fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award—it is an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. The Fellows Program is proactively working to foster and enable innovative, imaginative, and ground-breaking ideas, thinking, and strategies.

For more information, check out the MacArthur Foundation’s website.

Here are books written by some of the 2024 MacArthur Fellows that we have in the TBP collection.

Juan Felipe Herrera

BORDER-CROSSER WITH A LAMBORGHINI DREAM: POEMS (DB 106520)
HALF OF THE WORLD IN LIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (DBE 00018)

Juvenile

  • FEATHERLESS/DESPLUMADO: STORY/CUENTO (BR 16017) Grades Pre-school – 3
  • JABBERWALKING (BR 22695) Grades 6-9
  • UPSIDE DOWN BOY: EL NINO DE CABEZA (DBC 14870, BR 13098) Grades 9-12

Ling Ma

BLISS MONTAGE (DB 110623, BR 24614)
SEVERANCE (DB 93789)

Jason Reynolds

Series

Miles Morales Novels Series

MILES MORALES (DB 88694, BR 25389) Grades 6-9

Stuntboy Series

STUNTBOY, IN THE MEANTIME (DB 105877, BR 24094) Grades 3-6

Track Series

GHOST (DB 85921, BR 21669, LB 11281, Español DB 120388) Grades 5-8

Stand-Alone Novels

AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT (DB 106809) Grades 9-12
AS BRAVE AS YOU (DB 84720, BR 21728) Grades 5-8
BOY IN THE BLACK SUIT (DB 81907) Grades 9-12
FOR EVERY ONE (DB 93844) Grades 6-9
LONG WAY DOWN (DB 89688) Grades 6-9
LOOK BOTH WAYS: A TALE TOLD IN TEN BLOCKS (DB 102479, BR 23011, LB 12999) Grades 5-8
THERE WAS A PARTY FOR LANGSTON (DB 119850) Grades Pre-school – 3
WHEN I WAS THE GREATEST (DB 80631) Grades 9-12

Stand-Alone Nonfiction

MY NAME IS JASON. MINE TOO: OUR STORY, OUR WAY (DB 109295) Grades 6-9

Alice Wong

YEAR OF THE TIGER: AN ACTIVIST’S LIFE (DB 110670)

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Donna Marie Miller

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Thursday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m. (Central) with Texas author Donna Marie Miller.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean will talk with her about her career as an author as well as her book, BROKEN SPOKE: AUSTIN’S LEGENDARY HONKY-TONK. A Q&A chat will follow.

Our Author Talks meet via Zoom, however all you need to participate is a telephone! If you have a land line, you will use the telephone number. If you have a smart phone, you will use the “one-tap” number to join the discussion. We will also email a Zoom invitation to those who prefer to use a computer. This information will be sent to all patrons who RSVP a week prior to the author talk.

We would also like to offer you the opportunity to ask Donna Marie Miller questions about her book. Please submit questions by October 10. We will choose questions based on the responses to this form and they may be asked during the event!

Submit Questions Here

To RSVP, please email us at tbpRAL@tsl.texas.gov, or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge or if you prefer to download her book from BARD. Also, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

BROKEN SPOKE: AUSTIN’S LEGENDARY HONKY-TONK by Donna Marie Miller DBC 18774

James and Annetta White opened the Broken Spoke in 1964, then a mile south of the Austin city limits, under a massive live oak, and beside what would eventually become South Lamar Boulevard. White built the place himself, beginning construction on the day he received his honorable discharge from the US Army. And for more than fifty years, the Broken Spoke has served up, in the words of White’s well-worn opening speech, “cold beer, good whiskey, the best chicken fried steak in town … and good country music.” White paid thirty-two dollars to his first opening act, D. G. Burrow and the Western Melodies, back in 1964. Since then, the stage at the Spoke has hosted the likes of Bob Wills, Dolly Parton, Ernest Tubb, Ray Price, Marcia Ball, Pauline Reese, Roy Acuff, Kris Kristofferson, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Asleep at the Wheel, and the late, great Kitty Wells. But it hasn’t always been easy; through the years, the Whites and the Spoke have withstood their share of hardship–a breast cancer diagnosis, heart trouble, the building’s leaky roof, and a tour bus driven through its back wall. Today the original rustic, barn-style building, surrounded by sleek, high-rise apartment buildings, still sits on South Lamar, a tribute and remembrance to an Austin that has almost vanished. Housing fifty years of country music memorabilia and about a thousand lifetimes of memories at the Broken Spoke, the Whites still honor a promise made to Ernest Tubb years ago: they’re ‘keepin’ it country’.– Provided by publisher. Some strong language. 2017.

We look forward to having you join us on Thursday, October 17!

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Katie Lane

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Tuesday, August 13 at 7:00 p.m. (Central) with steamy romance author, Katie Lane.

Promo image of stage with red curtain and old fashioned chrome microphone with TBP and TSLAC logos and text mirroring post caption.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean will talk with her about her career as an author as well as her books, from her DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS Series. A Q&A chat will follow.

Our Author Talks meet via Zoom, however all you need to participate is a telephone! If you have a land line, you will use the telephone number. If you have a smart phone, you will use the “one-tap” number to join the discussion. We will also email a Zoom invitation to those who prefer to use a computer. This information will be sent to all patrons who RSVP a week prior to the author talk.

We would also like to offer you the opportunity to ask Katie Lane questions about her books. Please submit questions by August 6. We will choose questions based on the responses to this form and they may be asked during the event!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoK0-1wWTFHqC6gKdHhM4HIhu_nl9j0PutFXSPd24QeeQXFg/viewform?usp=sharing

To RSVP, please email us at tbpRAL@tsl.texas.gov, or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge with her series or if you prefer to download them from BARD. Also, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

Start with the first book in her series: GOING COWBOY CRAZY (DBC 25528) by Katie Lane

NLS Annotation: Bramble, Texas, is the only place Faith Aldridge can find answers–as well as Hope, the identical twin sister she never knew she had. But the townsfolk reckon that shy city-girl Faith is really Hope, back in Bramble at last. And they’re fixin’ to do whatever it takes to heat things up between her and Hope’s longtime flame, Slate Calhoun. If that means rustling her car, spreading rumors like wildfire, and reining in some explosive secrets, well, there’s no way like the Lone Star way… Strong language and some descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2017.

We look forward to having you join us on Tuesday, August 13!

In His Own Words: Willie Mays

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Considered one of the best baseball players of all time by authorities such as ESPN and The Sporting News, Willie Mays passed away on June 18 in California at the age of 93. Mays wrote several books describing his life and phenomenal career in baseball. Here are the books he’s written that we have in our collection.

24: LIFE STORIES AND LESSONS FROM THE SAY HEY KID (DB 99789, BR 23250)
SAY HEY: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIE MAYS (DB 30365)