International Edible Book Festival delights foodies and bookies, April 2018
Starting in the year 2000, bibliophiles, book artists and food lovers around the world have gathered to celebrate the art of books through food. Participants create an “edible book,” which is a culinary interpretation of any book, character, literary pun, or plot.
The International Edible Book Festival, scheduled each year on or after April 1 (the birthday of 18th-century French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin), has been observed at libraries, bookstores, and cultural venues around the world. Here’s a roundup of Texas participants that we’ve found for 2018.
From Artshound/Houston
Are you hungry for some delightful and delicious creative work? Come to the 3rd Annual Books2Eat Celebration, Saturday, March 31 at 3pm.
Did you ever read War and Peeps? Or what about Catsup in the Rye? Maybe Anne of Green Apples?
You are invited to prepare and exhibit an edible work of art based on books and reading. Any edible book idea is eligible: a favorite title, character, or event or a pun involving a book.
Join the Houston Book Arts Guild and WiVLA (Women in the Visual and Literary Arts) for an afternoon of eating our words!
This will be the local festival as part of the International Edible Book Festival, which occurs annually throughout the world. We encourage you to make an edible “book.” There will be prizes and lots of fun!
To volunteer to help with the festival, contact Cori Austin at info@wivla.org
To submit an entry, contact Lee Steiner at leesteinertw@yahoo.com
16th Annual Austin Edible Bookfest set for April 1, 2018
From Do512
A literary smorgasbord of favorite books, presented as food!
The time has come to combine your love of books with the totally normal desire to eat them. Participants add a food pun to a book's title, then create the dish that represents their idea. Entries are displayed, attendees vote on their faves, prizes are awarded, then everything gets eaten.
Past winners include a massive cookie chess board with pastry game pieces (“Game of Scones”); A clam-shaped cake decked out like a leatherbound Good Book (“The Holy Bivalve”); and an herb-essenced meringue, piped into a rippled script (“A Wrinkle in Thyme.”)
Get creative and combine your culinary abilities with your “dad joke” skills. Prizes are contributed from local businesses, and awarded for Most Appetizing, Least Appetizing, Funniest, Best Construction, and Best in Show. Event doubles as a food drive for Central Texas Food Bank, so bring non-perishable donations to help feed local families.
Half Price Books
5555 N Lamar Blvd Austin, TX
Sun., April 1, 6– 8 p.m.
15th Annual Edible Books Festival at University of North Texas at Denton
From UNT
Help kick off National Library Week with us at the annual Edible Books Festival on Mon., April 9 in Willis Library. Members of the Denton community and UNT faculty, staff members, and students may enter their creations into the festival for free, and they are also invited to judge the entries and then eat them. Since 2003, Willis Library has held an Edible Books Festival as part of the observance of the International Edible Book Festival, which is scheduled each year on or after April 1, the birthday of 18th-century French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. The Edible Book Festival is observed by many university and community libraries.
Mon., April 2
1506 W Highland St.
Denton, TX
For information call (940) 565-2411
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San Antonio names Octavio Quintanilla as new poet laureate
Local author and professor Octavio Quintanilla will serve as San Antonio’s fourth poet laureate for a two-year term from 2018–20, the city announced Tuesday.
The first male to hold the position, Quintanilla is tasked with “[generating] public interest in and preserving the art of poetry, while celebrating the culture and history of San Antonio,” the first major city in Texas to recognize and appoint a Poet Laureate.
“Since I’ve been here all I have done is my best to promote the literary community and that writers that live here,” Quintanilla told the Rivard Report. “[As Poet Laureate] I am planning to do what I do now, which is promoting literacy, promoting community, and promoting poetry.”
Quintanilla, who is a native of Harlingen and lived in Mexico until he was 9, has lived in San Antonio for five years and declares himself “a proud San Antonian now.” He has been an assistant professor at Our Lady of the Lake University since 2013, where he currently teaches masters-level literature and creative writing, and has served on advisory committees for the San Antonio Book Festival, Luminaria, and Zoeglossia: Retreat for Writers with Disabilities.
He is also the South Texas regional editor for Texas Books in Review and serves on the peer review board for the Southwestern American Literature publication from the Center for the Study of the Southwest, both initiatives out of Texas State University in San Marcos.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English from the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, and graduated in 2010 with a doctorate degree in literature and creative writing from the University of North Texas in Denton.
Quintanilla said that people get excited about poetry because it is “something that is in us all,” and “something we all grew up with,” by way of listening to stories told by parents and grandparents. “Hearing someone talk, hearing someone tell their story – that is poetry.”
Quintanilla joins previous poets laureate Carmen Tafolla, Laurie Ann Guerrero, and Jenny Browne, who all went on to become poets laureate of Texas after serving their posts in San Antonio.
“I feel honored to follow in the footsteps of three women who are amazing people, amazing writers, and amazing poets,” Quintanilla said. “I am excited about continuing aspects of the work that they have done, which is celebrating poetry and bringing it to the tables of others.”
While Quintanilla says it is too soon to speak to specific projects or initiatives that might take place during his tenure, his ultimate goal will be to make poetry more visible to communities that have less access, including schools and juvenile detention centers.
The poet laureate program was established in 2012 under then mayor Julián Castro. A panel of U.S. writers reviews the nominations, then recommends one for appointment by the mayor.
“As a world class city, San Antonio supports and fosters its creative and artistic communities – especially the many individuals who have committed their lives and work to preserving our city’s cultural legacy,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in a press release Tuesday. “Octavio is one of those committed individuals, and the City of San Antonio is proud to have him serve as our new Poet Laureate and promote the importance of literary arts in the community.”
San Antonio will join communities across the U.S. in celebrating National Poetry Month in April. Nirenberg and the City’s Department of Arts and Culture will host a public ceremony in City Council chambers to make the official appointment on April 3.
(From the Rivard Report)
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