Dallas Festival of Books & Ideas – books were not forgotten!

What was I expecting from the increasing entanglement of the annual Dallas Book Festival with the Dallas Festival of Ideas? Over several years, the two events have moved closer together – to the point of sharing both a date and location in the Central Branch of the Dallas Public Library – a pairing that made for claustrophobia as inspiration. Due to personal scheduling conflicts, I can only speak of the book portion of the festival.

This year’s pairing, the Dallas Festival of Books & Ideas, spread the “ideas” portion spread over five days, all in separate locations. For the most part, the “books” portion, retitled “Summer in the City,” was confined to the past Saturday at the library. The omission of the word “books” from the library’s listing of events was slightly disconcerting, but writing and reading themselves were not slighted, and the separation of festival locations greatly reduced congestion and the sometimes-dueling overlap of author readings and panels of past book festivals.

Dallas Central Library branch

 I missed the bravura, nationally acclaimed author presentations of a few years ago, but still appreciated the diversity of Texas authors and interest groups – from “must-reads” by African-American authors (presented by The Dock Bookshop of Fort Worth); to presentations from the Jane Austen Society of North Texas; Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators; and Dallas Area Romance Authors. 

There were major attractions – children’s writer Laura Numeroff (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie); award-winning fantasy/horror writer Joe R. Lansdale (The Elephant of Surprise); Steven Davis and Bill Minutaglio’s nonfiction narrative of Richard Nixon’s fixation on LSD guru Timothy Leary (The Most Dangerous Man in America); historical fiction writer Melanie Benjamin (Mistress of the Ritz); and author of women-oriented Westerns, Melissa Lenhardt, whose latest volume, Heresy, has been described as a “queer, transgender, multiracial takeover of the Old West.” 

I also appreciated an emphasis on younger audiences, and people who might be less literarily conscious, reflected in discussions of fanfiction, the writing of science fiction and fantasy for children and teen audiences as well as adults (presented by the DFW Writers Workshop), exposure of young readers to the Sherlock Holmes canon (presented by local Holmes society, The Crew of the Barque Lone Star), and writing family histories, followed by performances by local teen rap artists.

And of course, the opportunity to sign up for the Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge, with perks and prizes for readers from 1-100. If you missed this one, never fear, I’ll post later with more details, including how even kids too young to read can win!

If in all this, anybody feared that the Dallas Book Festival had left purely literary works left in the dust, WordSpace presented local poets B. Randall and Opalina Salas, and translators for local press Deep Vellum discussed their latest, selected poems of Goethe.

How the combined, intertwined festivals of books and ideas will work in the future remains to be seen, but here’s hoping the broadened festival base will attract – and keep – sponsors and visitors alike.

(Still to come, snippets and deliciously outrageous comments from the presentations by authors Davis and Minutaglio, Lenhardt, and the Crew of the Barque Lone Star.) 

Summer reading challenge: Read, repeat, win the treasures!

My daughter told me she had teasingly asked one of her kids if he wouldn’t just like to stay home on the next to last day of the school year. No, Mom, he insisted. He really wanted to go to school!

image: wikimedia commons

OK, maybe it was the longer than usual recess students had been promised that drew him back to the schoolhouse. But consider the possibilities – what if “summer school” only means doing the things we like to do? Maybe even getting fun swag for doing it? That’s the idea behind the Dallas Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge. This Saturday, June 3, at 1 p.m. Dallas Library branches will open the challenge. My local library branch, Skillman Southwestern, plans to make a party out of the opening, with face painting, balloon animals, snacks and more. Check your local branch to see what's happening, and sign up at the library or online.

Can’t swing by a library branch Saturday? Sign up any time through the challenge’s June 3-August 12 duration (ask a librarian how!) at your local branch or online. But the sooner you accept the challenge, the more chances you’ll have to win prizes.

Kids ages 0-18 can participate by reading (or being read to) at least 20 minutes a day. Ebooks and audiobooks count. (Sorry, video games and website surfing do not.) After logging 10 days of reading, kids earn a free book of their choice, plus a pass or coupon to even more fun summer events and attractions such as Dallas Children’s Theater, Dallas Zoo, Medieval Times, Nasher Sculpture Center, plus eating places and sporting events.

New giveaways are available at every 10-day reading interval. Plus, kids who log at least 50 reading days by August 12 will be entered for grand prizes such as a behind-the-scenes tour of the penguin exhibit at the Dallas Zoo, a family four-pack of tickets to a Dallas Cowboys game, a change to go on the field for a Cowboys game, a tour of the dinosaur/paleontology lab at SMU, and much, much more.

Darn, you say, dear reader. What if I’m over age 18? Don’t fret – age also has its privileges! Track each book you read for weekly and grand prize drawings.

Want extra credit? Post about your reading on social media with the tag @dallaslibrary for weekly drawings to win movie passes from Alamo Drafthouse. Want even more credits, you overachiever you, complete online Learning Tracks – themed activities designed to encourage deeper explorations of chosen topics.

By the way, did I forget to mention that all this is absolutely free? Free!

Oh, no, you say, this is only for Dallas residents. Too true, but similar programs exist at many other libraries. Check with your local librarian to find out.

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Now, I’ll mention something that isn’t on the Dallas Library site. But I know you – you love those extracurricular activities, right?

So, go the next mile (OK, the next meter or so) and post your reading adventures on sites such as Goodreads and Amazon, where you hold the grading pencil and the ability to give writers stars on their work. For even more fun, send me your book review (preferably not more than 300 words) embedded in an email to melissaembry01 at gmail.com, for a chance to see your review featured at this site. Keep it honest and clean (and in English)! I reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.