The 12th-annual San Antonio Book Festival kicks off on April 13 and will feature over 100 authors from all over Texas and the country. As the festival nears, we are getting an inside look at a few of the authors attending the event.
We caught up with some of the authors to learn more about how their life stories helped shape the stories they have written.
Watch GMSA between April 9-13 to watch stories about these authors.
Paul Flahive, Tori Poole, Burgin Streetman: “Worth Repeating: San Antonio Stories”
“Worth Repeating: San Antonio Stories,” is a book derived from the Texas Public Radio podcast, Worth Repeating.
The podcast was originally founded in 2015 by Paul Flahive, who is an accountability reporter and editor at TPR. The podcast features a collection of seven stories from seven different storytellers in seven minutes. There are usually seven episodes a year.
After a few years of the podcast, the idea to turn these stories into a book was born.
“Most of the people in the book are you know, from San Antonio or current residents. So, I think it’s sort of surprising the kind of stories the people here in town have lived through,” said Flahive.
Flahive wasn’t alone in the creation of this book. Tori Pool, Director of Events at TPR and Producer of Worth Repeating was part of the thinking behind it. One of Pool’s stories is featured in the book.
“One of my stories is in there and it was on the theme — alien. So, I told a story about feeling like an alien in the classroom,” Pool said.
Burgin Streetman, Assistant Director at the Trinity University Press also helped with editing the book and getting it published.
“It really runs the gamut of all kinds of things you see in San Antonio and really shows us as an international city that is very culturally diverse.,” said Streetman.
All three authors will be attending the festival for the first time as authors. All three have attended before or been moderators.
“So I’m excited about that. Just getting it in front of a new audience, talking about it and sort of dispelling any nervousness that people have about live storytelling,” Pool said.
Elizabeth Gonzalez James: “The Bullet Swallower: A Novel”
Elizabeth Gonzalez James grew up in South Texas and her family history gave her inspiration for her new book, “The Bullet Swallower: A Novel.”
“It’s based loosely on the true story of my great-grandfather. He was a Bandido, who was chased down by the Texas Rangers and shot in the face, but he lived. People started calling him El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower,” James said.
James came into writing in a more non-traditional way.
Originally attending college to go into corporate finance, James found herself jobless in 2008 after the corporate finance world was collapsing. While struggling to find a job, James got pregnant and then had a baby to take care of.
“I actually started writing to sort of deal with the whiplash of thinking that I was going to have this business career, but I didn’t. Instead, I had a baby,” said James.
“The Bullet Swallower: A Novel,” is a magical realism western. It follows the lives of a man known as the bullet swallower and his grandson.
“[They] are united by this sort of evil family curse that hangs over both of them,” she said.
James says writing has given her a new outlook on life and says anyone can write if they are willing to learn.
“In order to write, first of all, you have to read, so read widely,” James said.
This will be James’ first time attending the Book Festival.
Joe Holley: “Power: How the Electric Co-op Movement Energized the Lone Star State”
Texan Joe Holley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Houston Chronicle and author of several books.
His most recent book, titled “Power: How the Electric Co-op Movement Energized the Lone Star State” tells the story of the differences between rural and urban communities in the 1800s.
One big difference is the access to electricity, specifically for Texas ranchers, farmers and rural families in small towns.
Relying on oil lamps and living without electricity is something rural communities had to do until coming together to create the electric cooperative movement.
“It’s an interesting example of Texans, in this case, rural Texans, coming together and working literally cooperatively to bring a benefit to their way of life,” Holley said.
Holley explains the people in these small communities figured out a way with the Roosevelt administration and the help of Texas politicians like Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson to form cooperatives to bring power to small towns and farms.
“Realizing how their lives would change if they had power on their farms and ranches,” said Holley.
Holley has participated in the San Antonio book festival in years past and says it’s his favorite.
Adding in that the cooperative movement is a great part of Texas history, Holley says He hopes his book reaches people even if they aren’t cooperative customers.
Al Rendón: “Mi Cultura: Bringing Shadow into Light”
Al Rendón is a native-born San Antonian who shows his love for his city through his photography.
Rendón became interested in photography when he was about 13 years old. A couple of years later, while in high school, Rendón got the opportunity to photograph for the Central Catholic school yearbook and newsletter.
After high school, Rendón apprenticed with fellow photographers and worked in photo labs.
“It’s a very creative medium for me. I’ve always been interested in documenting important events, important people, especially related to San Antonio,” Rendón said.
Rendón will be showcasing his book, “Mi Cultura: Bringing Shadow into Light,” at this year’s festival.
“This book is a major milestone for me because it represents 50 years of me taking photographs of all different themes of art that you know, interest me,” said Rendón.
His book features pictures from his family, charreadas, La Virgen de Guadalupe and even pictures of Selena.
“To me, she’s become such a huge, iconic representative of Latina culture and music here in the U.S. not just in San Antonio,” Rendón said.
On top of attending the San Antonio Book Festival, Rendón currently has an exhibit being shown at the Witte Museum. The exhibit showcases his book, and even includes a dark room experience.
Looking to the future, Rendón plans on writing a new book focusing on low-rider culture.
Megan Kimble: “City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways”
Megan Kimble is a Freelance Journalist based in Austin.
Growing up, Kimble always wanted to be a writer. She loved books and eventually went to college for Journalism.
“I love learning. I would be a full-time student if I could, but journalism is sort of the second best thing,” said Kimble.
Her book, “City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways,” was just released on April 2.
She got the idea for her book while she was working at the Texas Observer as an editor covering housing. Kimble had written a story about a land development code that failed in Austin and within a couple of months, the Texas Transportation Commission allocated $4 Billion to expand I-35 through the heart of Austin.
“It’s been very well understood since the 1960s that adding car capacity means that cars will fill up that capacity, it’s basic supply and demand,” Kimble said.
Kimble said the solution to getting people off the roads, is public transportation.
“People are much more space-efficient than cars are and so you can move a lot of people much more efficiently in a bus or train than you can individually in cars,” Kimble said.
One issue with getting people to use public transportation is the lack of funding from the state.
“The problem in Texas is that the Texas Department of Transportation is constitutionally required to spend about 97% of its funding on roadways. So, most transit agencies in Texas, Austin and San Antonio alike, are funded typically by sales tax revenue or bond revenue,” said Kimble.
This will be Kimble’s first time attending the Book Festival and she says she’s excited to hear from San Antonians about their thoughts and opinions on traffic in our city.
Kazu Kibuishi: “Waverider: A Graphic Novel” (Amulet #9)
Kazu Kibuishi is a writer and illustrator of the graphic novel series, “Amulet”.
Kibuishi started drawing when he was just five years old. Now, he has been writing and illustrating for more than 20 years.
His inspiration for the “Amulet” series sparked from reading a Japanese manga series, “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” and the graphic novel “Bone.”
Kibuishi also credits growing up in the 1990s and being inspired by movies by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
“Amulet” follows two children, Emily and Naven, who must rescue their mom from a creature in a fantasy world called Alledia.
The Amulet series has been around since 2008. Kibuishi hopes it can still be enjoyed by all readers.
“I always anticipated a new generation of readers showing up, I’ve seen kids just learn to read on these books and that’s my job. So I’m the guy at the door to the library or to the bookstore or to books in general and I’m just showing people that behind every book there’s a really great story and hopefully they can understand it and enjoy it like everyone else,” said Kibuishi.
This will be his first time attending the San Antonio Book Festival.
Jenny Browne: “Texas, Being: A State of Poems”
Jenny Browne is a San Antonio native who is currently living in Belfast, Ireland teaching at a university.
Before moving to Ireland, Browne was a professor of creative writing and English at Trinity University. On top of being a professor, Browne has also served the distinguished role of Poet Laureate for the City of San Antonio and for the state of Texas.
Browne’s book, “Texas, Being: A State of Poems,” was just released this April. The book features 45 poems from different poets. Many of the poems talk about how Texas can be a complicated but beautiful with an interesting history.
“I’ve always been interested in the way poetry can create a landscape in the mind, you know, the way poetry asks us to pay attention,” said Browne.
Browne was not interested in writing when she was younger. She had aspirations to be a doctor, but a literature class in college changed her whole perspective on life. Browne hopes her book can be an inspiration to younger readers.
“In a lot of ways, I feel like people can be intimidated by poetry and I’m hopeful that it’s a book that is accessible to a wide range of readers,” Browne said.
This will be Browne’s first time attending the Book Festival as an author, but she has attended in the past at Poet Laureate.
“I’m excited both about my little piece of it but even more excited about the opportunities for discovery that the festival itself provides,” said Browne.
Susan Toomey Frost: “Witness to War: Mexico in the Photographs of Walter Elias Hadsell”
San Antonio Author, Susan Toomey Frost is showcasing her book “Witness to War: Mexico in the Photographs of Walter Elias Hadsell.”
Frost has been a collector of photographs, postcards and images from Mexico for decades. She lived in Mexico for six years and taught English and Linguistics there.
Frost now lives in San Antonio, where she also taught the same subjects at Trinity University and Texas Christian University.
Frost says after living in Mexico for so long and now, visiting frequently, she calls both Texas and Mexico her home.
“Witness to War: Mexico in the Photographs of Walter Elias Hadsell” is about an American mining engineer who decided to become a photographer after wanting to go into business for himself.
Hadsell lived in Mexico for about ten years and was there to witness the United States occupying the Mexican Port of Vera Cruz in 1914.
The images seen in the book are the first ones taken during that time.
Frost wants people to learn from the images and be able to see how it was in those moments.
“The book shows how we, the United States has not always been the best friend to Mexico and that maybe we should go by this example and not meddle in the affairs of Mexico like we have done so much over the years,” Frost said.
She hopes the book can also bring people together.
”That we are one people — especially in San Antonio — I feel this, that we share mutual heritage,” said Frost.
Frost is no stranger to the San Antonio Book Festival, as she’s been in years past. She’s excited to attend again, to speak about and show the compelling visual record of Walter Elias Hadsell’s time in Mexico.
Jesús Jesse Esparza: “Raza Schools: The Fight for Latino Educational Autonomy in a West Texas Borderlands Town”
Jesús Jesse Esparza was born and raised in San Antonio. He graduated from Brackenridge High School in 1996 and went on to study history in college at Southwest Texas State University where Esparza earned his bachelor’s and master’s in history.
After college, Esparza taught Spanish at Sam Houston High School for a short time. While being a teacher, he applied to the Ph.D. Program at the University of Houston and was accepted.
While getting his Ph.D., Esparza began looking into Mexican American history and the impact it’s had on our state and country.
“There are problems with the way the history of Mexican Americans is taught and then not taught,” Esparza said.
Esparza learned about a community in Del Rio that created its own independent school district organized by Mexican Americans in 1929. He researched this community and wrote his book, “Raza Schools: The Fight for Latino Educational Autonomy in a West Texas Borderlands Town.”
“This book does in many ways try to say, ‘Look, we need to provide a curriculum that’s fair, and that’s balanced, and that’s accurate and we need to fill in the gaps,’” said Esparza.
Esparza hopes his life story and book will inspire younger kids, who may not be in the best environment, to use reading as an escape and as a path to success.
“Here is this kid from the wrong side of the tracks and he’s able to graduate high school, he’s able to attend college, he fumbles his way through college but is able to navigate his way through college and then graduate school and then the Ph.D. program and now he is writing his book and he’s coming home to San Antonio to celebrate with his community, to celebrate with his parents, family and friends,” Esparza said.
Xelena Gonzalez & Adriana Garcia: “Remembering”
Xelena Gonzalez and Adriana Garcia have now published their third book together.
Gonzalez, an author and essayist, and Garcia a muralist and illustrator both grew up on the West Side of San Antonio.
They have been friends for many years and have been working on books together for the past seven years.
This will be their third time attending the San Antonio Book Festival as author and illustrator. Their book “Remembering” is a story that follows the making of an ofrienda for a pet, during the traditionally Mexican Dia de los Muertos celebration.
“‘Remembering’ follows a young person as they create an ofrienda to their furry friend who has passed on. A friend’s family helps them create an altar complete with flowers and cosas, or things, that him and his furry companion enjoyed,” said Garcia.
The idea to write this book came from the loss of their own pets and a poem Gonzalez wrote to help console her heart during that time.
“It’s a mix of sadness and joy and longing and remembrance the way it is for our traditions of Dia de Muertos. In the back of the book, you see my cat Buju and Adriana’s dog Simon,” Gonzalez said.
Both Gonzalez and Garcia are excited to attend the San Antonio Book Festival for the third time, to share their new book with others especially young ones who may be going through a difficult time after losing their pets.
C.L. “Rooster” Martinez: “Mexican Dinosaur”
Christopher L. “Rooster” Martinez is a San Antonio native and has been writing poetry for 13 years.
He says poetry and writing have always been part of his life but his passion for it got stronger when he was in college.
Martinez is a current professor of English and creative writing at Palo Alto College.
His book “Mexican Dinosaur” is filled with poems about his life experiences, family history in San Antonio’s West side, the myths and history around chicanismo and grief.
Representing San Antonio all over Texas and performing his poetry at poetry slams across the nation, Martinez says “Mexican Dinosaur” captures his love for our city.
“This book is in many ways a love letter to the city and also just my appreciation for everything that is bestowed upon me from my family, to love, to loss, to everything, so that’s really what propelled me to put it together,” Martinez said.
Martinez hopes his book gives people the chance to take a moment and realize that life is a gift.
The San Antonio Book Festival, Martinez says, is also a chance for everyone of all ages to reconnect with reading and writing.