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Texas' biggest book festival announces 12 top authors for 2017

This one's for the bookworms.

Photo courtesy of Texas Book Festival

The Texas Book Festival returns November 4-5, 2017, celebrating all things literary for the 22nd year. Organizers have revealed the first round of authors participating in the 2017 event, which boasts a diverse lineup of food writers, celebrity authors, and young adult novelists.

"Each year, we try to surpass what we've done before to engage and delight book lovers from all corners of the state who come to the annual Texas Book Festival to see their favorite authors and to discover new ones," says executive director Lois Kim in a release.

Foodies can look forward to appearances by celebrated food writer Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian) and Top Chef judge Gail Simmons (Bringing It Home).

Young adult author Claire Messud will discuss her highly anticipated 2017 release, The Burning Girl, andAngie Thomas will present her acclaimed debut novel, The Hate U Give. Margarita Engle, the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate, will present two new works: All the Way to Havana and Forest World.

Twelve authors have been revealed so far. The lineup is as follows:

Jami Attenberg, All Grown Up
Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Matthew Dowd, A New Way
Margarita Engle, All the Way to Havana and Forest World
Roger D. Hodge, Texas Blood
Lisa Ko, The Leavers
Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid
Claire Messud, The Burning Girl
Tomás Q. Morín, Patient Zero
Gail Simmons, Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes from a Life of Adventurous Eating
Javaka Steptoe, Radiant Child
Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

More than 250 additional writers, both fiction and nonfiction, will join the above authors for readings, panel discussions, and signings. Free and open to the public, the Texas Book Festival takes place in and around the Texas State Capitol and along Congress Avenue.

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New

Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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