Books about Texas: a few useful lists

Journalist and book critic A. C. Greene, himself an author of note, served as arbiter of Lone Star literary merit in 1981 with his “Fifty Best Texas Books,” published in book form in 1982 as The Fifty Best Books on Texas and reprised in 1998 as The 50+ Best Books on Texas (University of North Texas Press). Another journalist-cum-author (and bookseller), Glenn Dromgoole of Abilene, with co-editor Carlton Stowers, upped the ante in 2014 with 101 Essential Texas Books (Abilene Christian University Press).

• Elizabeth Jordon, Ten Books Every Texan Should Read (Texas Highways, December 2013)
• Rick Bass: The Best Books ’Bout Texas (Daily Beast, September 2013)
• Macy Halford, Seven Essential Books on Texas (New Yorker, April 2009)
• Jesse Sublett, Literary Lone Stars: Ten Best Texas Books (Austin Chronicle, February 1996)
• A. C. Greene's Fifty Best Texas Books (Texas Monthly, August 1981)
• Literary Texas: A Guide to the State’s Bookish Destinations (Lone Star Literary Life, 2016)
• Popular Texas history books (Goodreads)
  Books set in Texas (Goodreads)
• Books set in Texas (BooksSetIn.com)
• Novels set in Texas (Wikipedia)
• Ten best novels set in Houston (HoustonPress.com)
• Texas literature (Wikipedia)

Award-winning Texas books

The Texas Institute of Letters annually recognizes significant Texas books in a number of categories, and books by Texas authors.

The Texas State Historical Association annually honors significant books in several categories of Texas history.

The Writers' League of Texas hosts an annual competition (formerly known as the Violet Crown Awards) for the best recent books by Texas authors.

Numerous other competitions, organizations, and publishers honor Texas books in specific fields or categories.

Texas authors and their books: a few useful lists

How do you know a Texas author when you spy one? That might not be as simple to answer as it seems. Sure, our revered late literary lights such as J. Frank Dobie, Katherine Anne Porter, Elmer Kelton, Robert E. Howard, and Molly Ivins are easy marks. They were born or raised in Texas, lived and worked here for a significant stretch, died in Texas (wait, not Porter), and often wrote about Texas

But those living authors are pesky. They tend to do things like up and move away, go teach or establish a reputation somewhere else, divide their time between states, even marry non-Texans. These Texiles and Texpatriates might or might not think of themselves as Texas writers. And what about those who got here as quick as they could? Or retired to the Lone Star State? Not to mention those public figures who became instant authors when they wrote, or co-wrote, their celebrity biographies.

At Lone Star Literary Life, we're happy to accept all comers with a claim. Any author who considers himself or herself as Texan is good enough for us. Check out the lists below. And if you take exception, well, that might just make for some spirited conversation at a Texas Book Festival on some occasion.

• Texas authors (Goodreads)
• Writers from Texas (Wikipedia)
• Leonard and Clearley, eds., Conversations with Texas Writers (University of Texas Press, 2005)
• See also Writers’ Groups on our Write page.

Book events featuring Texas authors

Texas is a big state, and it's home to some truly big events and festivals. One of the nation's largest, the Texas Book Festival, was started in 1995 by Laura Bush, then the First Lady of Texas, and Mary Margaret Farabee, wife of former State Senator Ray Farabee. While it doesn't feature Texas authors exclusively, in a given year you can count on a passel of ’em, with many more to meet and greet at the exhibitor tents surrounding the state capitol grounds during the two-day event.

The San Antonio Book Festival, the West Texas Book Festival, and the Pulpwood Queens' Girlfriend Weekend are a few more choice grounds where Texas authors are known to graze. For a comprehensive list, check out our Go page.

Texas book recommendations for young readers

The June Franklin Naylor Award for the Best Book for Children on Texas History, endowed by the family of June Franklin Naylor and sponsored by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, is given annually to the author/illustrator of the most distinguished book for children and young adults, grades K-12, that accurately portrays the history of Texas, whether fiction or nonfiction.

• Cynthia Leitich Smith’s list of Texas Children's and YA Lit Resources

• Lone Star Lit’s Texas Kids’ Summer Reads 2018

Texas Library Association reading lists (not strictly Texas books, but . . .)

The Texas Library Association annually names a master list of their Texas Bluebonnet Awards, a list of the twenty best recent fiction and nonfiction titles for grades 3 through 6 by living U.S. authors. While these aren't limited to books about Texas or by Texas authors, the winner is voted on by the most expert judges of all: the young readers in Texas schools themselves.

The TLA's Young Adult Round Table sponsors the Texas Lone Star Reading List, the Tayshas High School Reading List, the Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List, and the Young Adult Reading Incentives Award. The Young Adult Round Table also co-sponsors TT4L (Texas Teens for Libraries) and the YART-Linworth Publishing/LMC TLA Conference Stipend. The Texas Library Association sponsors reading lists solely to encourage free voluntary reading.

TLA has also established the Lariat reading list for adults. The annual list of Lariat award winners calls attention to outstanding fiction published during the year that merit special attention from adult readers. The main criteria for selecting books for the Lariat List is that they are “a pleasure to read.”

[Be patient with us — hotlinks and information are coming soon to this page!]

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