Yesterday I spent a good part of the afternoon volunteering at the Texas Book Festival. I spent about an hour and a half in the author hospitality room where one author handed me his author evaluation and another complained to me about her name being misspelled on her festival paraphenalia (name badge and such).

Then I was an author escort for the Texas Men vs. Texas Women panel, moderated by Sarah Bird. I was very good and didn't act silly with Sarah Bird, holding myself back from admitting what a fan I am. I acted pretty cool - as cool as I could be wearing a huge orange Book festival tee over my black CodePink shirt.

I hadn't heard of any of the authors in the panel, but surprisingly found myself very interested in the panel discussion. All of the authors on the panel were scholars who have devoted works to the writing of Texas authors. Lou Rodenberger and Dr. Sylvia Grider edited Let's Hear It: Stories by Texas Women Writers, Steven Davis wrote Texas Literary Outlaws and James Ward Lee (the only author on the panel whose name sounded previously familiar) recently published Adventures with a Texas Humanist. All of the authors were quite pleasant and the panel was very educational for me. I confess, besides Sarah Bird and Sandra Cisneros, I haven't read much Texas literature.

I know a couple of the authors were disappointed in the lack of turnout at the signing tent. Ultimately, I think there was a lack of turnout for yesterday's events compared with past festivals. When I went year before last to hear Sandra Cisneros and Fannie Flagg, there seemed to be a lot more people. Maybe there weren't many yesterday because it was Halloween? Whatever the reason, I hope this improves for next year.
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