Spring into a new season of Texas lit events

Yes, the groundhog has spoken – six more weeks of winter! But the venerable rodent’s forecast can’t halt the flow of literary events in Texas, pushing through the cold like early spring flowers. Even more than a month before the official start of spring, the landscape is full of possibilities like these:

February 10 – 11: North Texas Comic Book Festival, in the Irving Convention Center, 500 Las Colinas Blvd. W., Irving. Free tickets for kids ages 11 and under. For adults, 1-day tickets $20, 2-day $30. See the site for details.

February 11: Arts & Letters Live continues, with Paul Auster, bestselling author of 1234, in conversation with Will Evans of Deep Vellum Publishing, 7 p.m., at the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood in Dallas. Tickets for the public, $40, with discounts for DMA members, Friends of Deep Vellum, Wild Detectives, and the Writer’s Garret, and free for students and educators. The series continues through June 20. See the DMA’s site for details and tickets.

February 12 - ?: WRiTE Club returns! It’s the writing contest that’s also a spectator sport as readers vote for their favorite 500-word entries from authors hiding behind the safety of anonymity. Official unveiling of details on the 12^th, at the site of ringmaster DL Hammons.

February 16-18: ConDFW XVII banishes the late-winter blues with its lineup of science fiction/fantasy panels, author signings and hijinks – including appearances by author guest of honor Charlaine Harris (The Southern Vampire series). Adult 3-day memberships $45, 1-day $30. Children’s memberships $20 and $15, respectively. Discounts available with valid military, educator or student ID. At the Radisson Hotel Fort Worth Fossil Creek. See the site for details.

February 20: Clements Center Evening Lecture Series showcases The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack Davis. Reception 5:30 p.m., lecture and signing 6 p.m., in the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom East, 3140 Dyer St., on the SMU campus. Free. The lecture series concludes April 11. For information and registration, see the site. (Thanks to book club member Julia Carpenter for this tip!)

image: pixabay

February 22: Highland Park Literary Festival welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Adam Johnson (The Orphan Master’s Son) as keynote speaker, 7 p.m., with signing from 8 – 8:45 p.m. At the Highland Park High School, 4220 Emerson, Dallas. Free and open to the public.

March 8: Authors LIVE! presents author Mark Weinberg’s Movie Nights with the Reagans, at 7 p.m. at Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas. Free, or choose a 6 p.m. pre-lecture reception and signing for $30 (includes copy of the book). See the site for details or to register for reception. The Authors LIVE! series is presented in partnership with the Highland Park Library and Friends of SMU Libraries.

March 24: WORDfest, billed as an “all-you-can-meet festival of creative connection” makes its second annual appearance from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the Student Union building of Tarrant County College’s Northeast Campus at 828 Harwood Rd. in Hurst. More than 30 North Texas writers’ organizations will be on hand to distribute information about their specialties, including fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, poetry, and indie publishing. Lunch and snacks available for purchase from the student union cafeteria, but otherwise everything is free. However, WORD (Writing Organizations ‘Round Dallas) appreciates an RSVP at its site.

April 7: Save the date for the Dallas Book Festival, Dallas Central Library, 1515 Young St., Dallas. More details to come, but this year’s festival will feature more than 100 local, regional and national authors, with writing workshops, children’s activities, and live performances. Once again, in connection with the Dallas Festival of Ideas. Free.

April 7: Meet still more authors at the North Texas Book Festival in the Patterson-Appleton Art Center, 400 E. Hickory St., in Denton. Free to the public.

April 20-21: North Texas Teen Book Festival in the Irving Convention Center, 500 Las Colinas Blvd. W., Irving. So far, it’s registered dozens of middle-grade and young-adult authors. Panels, book sales, signings, and more. Free. On-site parking available for $8, or take DART to the convention center stop.

April 30- May 6: Writefest is a weeklong, megafestival collaboration of the Houston Writers Guild and Writespace Houston. Included are literary agents, acquisition editors from traditional publishers, panels, workshops, and a keynote address by mega author, Justin Cronin (The Passage trilogy). Tickets are available at the full event pass, 3-day pass, Friday only and Saturday only levels. Early bird pricing starts February 15. For details and locations, check out the site.

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Other good and worthy stuff: Writers In the Field, which hosts a fall weekend of hands-on experience for writers with stuff like herbs, historical artifacts, potions, weapons, and more would love for you to buy a gift ticket for a local writer who might not otherwise be able to attend. Buy a $45 weekend pass at the WITF site using the promo code GIFT, and receive (besides a warm, fuzzy feeling and possible tax deduction) a real-time conversation about your own work in progress from author/instructor Tex Thompson. Give, send 5,000 words of your writing (any genre or format, including outline, synopsis, query or whatever) to tex@thetexfiles.com. See the WITF site for details.