Troncoso endows new TIL award for fiction
On his blog this month, El Paso author Sergio Troncoso has announced a new award for Best Work of First Fiction ($1,000).
The Sergio Troncoso Award will be given to a first novel or short-story collection by an author from Texas or writing about Texas. The publication date of the work must be in 2017. The deadline for submission is January 2, 2018.
Each year the Texas Institute of Letters awards more than $20,000 to recognize outstanding literary works in several categories. Eligibility for the awards requires that the author be born in Texas or have lived in Texas for at least two consecutive years at some time. A work whose subject matter substantially concerns Texas is also eligible.
For a list of all 2017 TIL contests, visit
www.texasinstituteofletters.org/awards/2017-contest-details.pdf
(Information from author’s social media)
7th Annual Laredo Book Festival set for Dec. 9
The 7th Annual Laredo Book Festival will feature Matt de la Peña, a New York Times bestselling, Newbery Medal–winning author of six young adult novels (Mexican WhiteBoy, The Living and The Hunted) and two picture books (A Nation’s Hope and Last Stop on Market Street).
Sponsored by the Laredo Public Library and the Friends of the Laredo Public Library, the event will take place at the Joe A. Guerra/Laredo Public Library at 1120 E. Calton Road on Saturday, Dec. 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Other featured authors include Patty York Raymond, Christina Sendejo, and Mario E. Martinez. In addition, all local authors and illustrators are invited to participate as well. There will also be food trucks and vendors.
For more information, visit www.laredolibrary.org/BookFestival/about.html
(Compiled from Laredo Public Library and book festival social media)
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Friends of the Amarillo Public Library put the ”fun” in fund-raising with 7th annual Books to Broadway evening
AMARILLO — Kids’ Lit on Broadway was the theme of a bookish evening of entertainment Nov. 2 benefiting the Amarillo Public Library. In addition to a silent auction featuring ingeniously paired books and gifts, and free desserts, audiences were treated to a revue of musical selections performed by WTAMU singers Candace Carpenter, Peyton Kane, and Jayson Sanderson (ensemble member Christopher Meerdink had to bow out due to illness) and accompanist Jan Waller under the direction of Robert Hanson, director of music at West Texas A&M University.
The delightful program included songs from from children’s books that became Broadway musicals such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Secret Garden, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, The Lion King, Seussical: The Musical, Finding Neverland, and Oliver. The audience was invited t sing along during perennial favorite "Tomorrow" from Annie, the musical inspired by the Little Orphan Annie comics. Library director Stacy Yates emceed the event.
According to Yates, the event is as much about friend-raising as fund-raising, a way to say thank you to the library’s patrons and friends and to encourage reading.
Above, from top: numerous volunteers helped make Books to Broadway a success; library director Stacy Yates exhibits a cabinet tailored with recycled book spines, one of many innovative works of art on offer during the silent auction; an ensemble of WTAMU performers entertained the audience sat the Amarillo Civic Center; coffee tables, lamps, chairs, and art works were paired with books for the silent auction; Lone Star Literary Life publisher Kay Ellington talks books with Julia Koumalats, publicist for WTAMU writer in residence Jodi Thomas.
(Photos by Barbara Brannon)
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