Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Harry Hunsicker

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

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)

Booker Prize Longlist 2024

For more than 50 years, the Booker Prize has been the leading literary award in the English-speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward, and readership to outstanding fiction. Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. The longlist was announced on July 30, the shortlist was announced on September 16, and the winner will be announced on November 12. Here are some of the books longlisted for 2024 that are in the TBP collection.

For more information check out the Booker Prize website.

CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner (DB 124304 IN PROCESS)
HEADSHOT by Rita Bullwinkel (IN PROCESS)
HELD by Anne Michaels (DB 119169)
JAMES by Percival Everett (DB 120063, BR 25513 IN PROCESS)
MY FRIENDS by Hisham Matar (IN PROCESS)
ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey (DB 119203)
PLAYGROUND by Richard Powers (DB IN PROCESS)
THIS STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY by Claire Messud (DB 121644)
WANDERING STARS by Tommy Orange (DB 119674)
WILD HOUSES by Colin Barrett (DB 123389)

2024 Texas Writer Award – Naomi Shihab Nye

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

2024 MacArthur Fellows

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)

Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club: 100th Title Announced

Since 2017, Reese Witherspoon has chosen one book per month for her book club featuring a woman at the center of the story. In September 2024, the club announced its 100th title!

Below you will find a list of the books selected so far this year and a link to the book club’s website. Feel free to contact us to get any of the available titles!

September 2024: COMFORT OF CROWS: A BACKYARD YEAR by Margaret Renkl (DB 118199)
August 2024: SLOW DANCE by Rainbow Rowell (DB 123392 In Process)
July 2024: CLIFFS by J. Courtney Sullivan (DB 122751)
June 2024: UNWEDDING by Allyson Braithwaite Condie (DB 121784)
Summer 2024 YA Pick: TWELFTH KNIGHT by Alexene Farol Follmuth (DB 121938)
May 2024: HOW TO END A LOVE STORY by Yulin Kuang (DB 123443 In Process)
April 2024: THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD by Claire Lombardo (DB 95730)
March 2024: ANITA DE MONTE LAUGHS LAST by Xochitl Gonzalez (DB 119771)
February 2024: REDWOOD COURT by DéLana R.A. Dameron (not yet in NLS collection)
January 2024: FIRST LIE WINS by Ashley Elston (DB 118733)

Find the website with all 100 titles here: https://reesesbookclub.com/picks

2025 NLS Calendars Available to Order

2025 is right around the corner, and we have the perfect item to help you start the year off right. The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled provides braille and print/braille calendars to its patrons free of charge. Calendars are available in two sizes: a larger wall calendar in print/braille and a smaller, pocket-sized calendar in braille only. Best of all, you can order multiple copies of each calendar.

Once you are subscribed, you will receive a calendar each year unless you choose to stop your subscription. If you received calendars in 2024, you do not need to order again, unless you want to change the type or number of calendars that you receive. Calendars for 2025 will be shipped this fall.

To get your calendar, e-mail tbp.services@tsl.texas.gov or call 1-800-252-9605 and let us know which calendar you would like to order. 

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Donna Marie Miller

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!

Hugo Award Finalists 2024

The Hugo Awards, science fiction’s most prestigious awards, were established by the World Science Fiction Society in 1953. The Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which is also responsible for administering them. The awards were presented in Glasgow, Scotland earlier this month.

For more information, check the Awards’ Website.

Here are the finalists for 2024 that are in the TBP collection.

Best Novel

ADVENTURES OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI by S. A. Chakraborty (DB 114852, BR 25276 IN PROCESS)
STARTER VILLAIN by John Scalzi (DB 118263)
WITCH KING by Martha Wells (DB 114938)

Best Novella

THORNHEDGE by T. Kingfisher (DB 116446, BR 25269)

Best Series

Final Architecture Series by Adrian Tchaikovsky
SHARDS OF EARTH (DB 116209)
Imperial Radch Series by Ann Leckie
ANCILLARY JUSTICE (DB 79102, BR 23440, LB 07931)
Laundry Files Series by Charles Stross
ATROCITY ARCHIVES (DB 91650)
October Daye Series by Seanan McGuire
ROSEMARY AND RUE (DB 71567, BR 24909)
Universe of Xuya Series by Aliette de Bodard
TEA MASTER AND THE DETECTIVE (DB 91608)

Lodestar Award for Best YA Book

UNRAVELLER by Frances Hardinge (DB 112713)

Paris 2024 Paralympics

Although sports for athletes with physical impairments has existed in several forms over the past century, the first Paralympic Games took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960 featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since the Summer Games of Seoul, Korea, in 1988 and the Winter Games in Albertville, France, in 1992, the Games have also taken part in the same cities and venues as the Olympics.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which will take place between 28 August and 8 September, will bring together as many as 4,400 athletes from around the world. The athletes will compete in 549 medal events across 22 sports.

Below we have collected stories about and memoirs from famous Paralympians for both adult and youth readers.

For more information: National Paralympic Committee.

Adult Nonfiction

ALWAYS CLIMB HIGHER! by Jeff Pagels (DB 80208)
FIRE IN MY EYES: AN AMERICAN WARRIOR’S JOURNEY FROM BEING BLINDED ON THE BATTLEFIELD TO GOLD MEDAL VICTORY by Brad Snyder (DB 86882, BR 21816)
HARD PARTS: A MEMOIR OF COURAGE AND TRIUMPH by Oksana Masters (DB 119093)
ON MY OWN TWO FEET: FROM LOSING MY LEGS TO LEARNING THE DANCE OF LIFE by Amy Purdy (DB 84333)
OUT OF THE WHIRLPOOL: A MEMOIR OF REMORSE AND RECONCILIATION by Sue Wiygul Martin (DB 78152)

Juvenile Nonfiction

AMAZING ATHLETES: AN ALL-STAR LOOK AT CANADA’S PARALYMPIANS by Marie-Claude Ouellet (BRG 04485) Grades 3-6
ATHLETES WITH DISABILITIES by Deborah Kent (DB 57300) Grades 4-7
COLORS OF THE WIND: THE STORY OF BLIND ARTIST AND CHAMPION RUNNER GEORGE MENDOZA by J. L. Powers (DB 106815) Grades Kindergarten -3
TENACIOUS: FIFTEEN ADVENTURES ALONGSIDE DISABLED ATHLETES by Patty Cisneros-Prevo (DBC 15421) Grades 3-6