Texas Book Festival 2008

We arrived at the Texas Book Festival on Saturday morning Nov. 1st. It was perfect weather for the festival. Sunny and in the low 60s warming up later in the day.

The tents were set up the same as last year with the signing tent at one end next to the Barnes and Nobles tent.

Barnes and Nobles each year sells the authors books for the author signings.

You don't have to buy books there but it is convenient and a portion of the sales go to buy books for Texas libraries.

My brother-in-law Jim and I have been coming to the book festival for 11 years straight years. The number of authors and the number of people attending the book festival has grown over the years.

The book festival has expanded to other buildings near the capitol and keeps moving further up the streets. For many authors you need to get to the lecture room early any because they are often standing room only.

One good example is author Kathleen Kent from Dallas. I attended her talk in a packed room. I came across her debut book, Heretic's Daughter, a couple of months ago because it had great reviews and looked like a very collectible book.


Kathleen Kent

Kathleen Kent just had her first book published in September. She was a history major and graduated from the University of Texas. She was previously the chief operating officer of a company (not sure which one). She now lives in Dallas.

Ms. Kent told us that when she was growing up her mother would not allow her to dress up as a witch on Halloween. She wasn't quite sure why until she later heard a relative talk about the hanging of a relative in the 1600's. This relative was Martha Carrier.

Martha was a very outspoken Puritan woman who was sentenced to death because she was accused of being a witch and would not admit it.

Ms. Kent became very interested in the story of her ancestors and obtained transcripts, letters and court records from the period of the witch trials. Fortunately, the courts at the time were British and they kept detailed reports. And many of the reports have survived until today. She researched the story for five years before she wrote the book. The story is told through the eyes of Sarah, Martha's daughter.

The events that led to the witch trials were that a preacher and his wife moved from a Carribean island. The wife having lived on the island (possibly was born there) knew about magic and spells. When she moved to Salem with her husband, young girls in the town befriended the wife.

The wife entertained them with stories and cast spells for them.

Their parents found out what the girls were doing and the girls turned on the preacher's wife she was imprisoned as a witch. The witch hunt began as the Puritan townfolk asked the girls to point out other witches in the community. The girls then proceeded to implicate men and women in town they didn't like.

These men and women and sometimes their children were imprisoned and then the witch trials began which sent over 20 people to their deaths. The witch hunts were finally halted when the governor's wife was accused of being a witch.

Ms. Kent said that her next book will be a prequel with the characters when they were back in England. Martha Carrier's husband was thought to be an executioner for the king of England. He was seven feet tall and lived to be 109. This should be a very interesting book.

Author Signings

Jim and I both got The Heretic's Daughter signed by Ms. Kent.

Later on Saturday Jim and I got books signed by H. W. Brands.Mr. Brands is a professor at the University of Texas and has won acclaim for his many published historical biographies.

I had a copy of Lone Star signed and Jim got copies of The Money Men signed.

(I'm reading a paperback copy of this now - it contains some historical stories ... from the 1700s to 1900s ... that are in some ways similar to the economics problems the country is now having).

David Liss (on the right), Edgar Award winner, was also at the book festival. He lives in San Antonio. His latest book is The Whisky Rebels.

I got a book I had bought previously (and forgot to get signed last year at the Texas Book Festival), The Coffee Trader signed by him.

Another author we got books signed by was Christopher Reich. I had his first book, Number Account which was nominated for the Edgar Award.

I bought this back in 1999. After nearly 10 years, I was able to meet him and get it signed.

He told how these two men rose from poverty and became important statesmen. Lincoln considered Douglass his friend though they often disageed in many areas.

Here's Jim lining up early for Mr. Brands.




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