As usual, there is a lot happening on the literary-Texas scene. Read on for the updates since our last roundup. 

Abilene 

Texas Star Trading Co. celebrated twenty years in business in March. They marked the occasion by offering a twenty percent discount on any item with the image of a Texas flag.  

Amarillo 

Chapterhouse Bookstore announced that they must delay their plans to move into a brick & mortar site. They will continue the search for a new space. They continue to fundraise in support of a permanent space. 

Austin 

To celebrate Independent Bookstore Day on April 27, the Austin Texas Book Trail served to highlight twenty-five participating independent bookstores in the greater Austin area including Alienated Majesty Books, Austin Books & Comics, Best Little Wine & Books, Black Pearl Books, The Book Burrow, BookPeople, BookWoman, Curio Mrvosa, Dragon’s Lair Comics, Em Dash Books, First Light Books, Lark & Owl Booksellers, Libros Bookshop, The Little Gay Shop, Monkeywrench Books, The Painted Porch Bookshop, Pecantown Books & Brews, Recycled Reads, Resistencia Books, Reverie Books, South Congress Books, Sunday Bookshop, Time Being Books, Tribe Comics & Games, and Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar. 

Houston 

Houston indie bookstores are celebrating Independent Bookstore Day through April 30, 2024, with the first Houston Bookstore Crawl. Eighteen indie bookshops are participating with a special crawl tote bag, buttons, pins, a raffle, and more. Participating stores include Village Books, Good Books in the Woods, Buy the Book, The Book Attic, Copperfield’s Books, The Book Readers Venue, Houston Book Warehouse, Kaboom Books, Blue Willow Bookshop, Basket Books & Art, Kindred Stories, Brazos Bookstore, Murder by the Book, Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics, CLASS Bookstore, LIT Bookbar, Candescent Books, and LIT Java. 

Oak Cliff 

The 2nd Annual Oak Cliff Book Crawl on April 27, 2024, will highlight Oak Cliff’s five unique and spectacular bookstores with music, food, books, author events, and more. Participating stores include Whose Books, The Wild Detectives, Poets Bookshop, Lucky Dog Books, and Pan-African Connection.  

Richmond 

LIT Bookbar opened on March 7, 2024. Modeled on a book club owner Jillian Reed joined during the pandemic, the store offers a variety of new book titles, programming, and cocktails. 

Selma 

Cibolo Chicks announced that they had closed as of February 16, 2024.  

OTHER INDUSTRY NEWS: 

The Texas Book Festival welcomed new Board of Directors Members: former Mayor of San Marcos Dr. Daniel Guerrero; former TBF Board of Advisor Anna Herd; teacher, volunteer, and advocate Annie Jacob; and recent President and CEO of Make-A-Wish Central & South Texas, Ann Jerome. 

The Texas Center for the Book announced its new Coordinator, Michele Chan Santos. She began her new position on March 1, 2024. 

Gemini Ink announced that it is the recipient of the Library of America’s Latino Poetry Initiative. 

The Houston Public Library has been named a finalist for the 2024 National Medal for Museum and Library Service by the Institute of Museum and Library services. 

The Houston Public Library’s Freed-Montrose Branch closed on March 28, 2024. After feedback, they developed a new plan to extend operations, and the library will reopen on Monday, April 15. A new library is under construction on California Street with an anticipated fall opening date.  

Two Texas booksellers, Katy Lemieux with Talking Animal Books and Sherrele Goloversic with The Book Readers Venue, earned scholarships from the  American Booksellers Association to attend the Children’s Institute 2024 in New Orleans, LA. 

The American Booksellers Association announced the James Patterson Bookseller Bonus Program Spring 2024 recipients, which include Merrilee Wilderson with BookPeople, Audrey Kohler with BookWoman, Keaton Patterson with Brazos Bookstore, David Landry with CLASS Bookstore, Brian Weiskopf with Interabang Books, Christina Marroquin with Lark & Owl Booksellers, Paul Taylor with Nowhere Bookshop, Andrea Lisa O’Brien with O’Brien’s Bookshop, Sarah Forbau with Patchouli Joe’s Books & Indulgences, Kelsey Black with The Book Burrow, and Stefani Kelley with The Book Nook.