Texas Book Festival 2011 - Prep

I'm sitting in an Austin hotel room tonight making plans for the 2011 Texas Book Festival that will be held at the State Capitol this weekend.  I enjoyed a rather leisurely drive from Houston to Austin this afternoon, during which I explored some of the back roads between the two cities, and I'm really looking forward to the next two days.  I hope to be able to post some pictures and comments here tomorrow night but it will probably be next week before I can get into a whole lot of detail about the festival.

Already on my "do not miss" list are presentations and interviews with: Juan Williams (Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate), Tom Perrotta (The Leftovers), Kathy Reichs (Seizure: A Virals Novel), and Russell Banks (Lost Memory of Skin).  In addition, I've penciled in sessions on "What Really Happened at the O.K. Corral," "Writers on Reading," "Gangster Tour of Texas," and "America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation."

 Something new at the Festival this year is the inclusion of what they are calling a Saturday night "Lit Crawl" from various East Austin venues.  I hope to make a couple of stops on that circuit, too.