Austinist Preview: "The Worst Years of Your Life" at Texas Book Festival

Over a year ago, we reviewed a short story anthology called The Worst Years of Your Life: Stories for the Geeked-Out, Angst-Ridden, Lust-Addled, and Deeply Misunderstood Adolescent in All of Us. We thought it was pretty great then, and we're even more excited for what will happen when the Texas Book Festival brings together a group of celebrated literary fiction writers from around the country for a panel based on the book.

Although we're sure all the featured authors-- Z. Z. Packer, Robert Boswell, Mark Jude Poirier, Amber Dermont, Elizabeth Crane, and Andrew Sean Greer-- were probably the coolest kids in their middle schools (nothing makes a writer like a non-tramautic adolescence... right?), we're still counting on a lot of laughing-with-them-not-at-them, thanks to the emcee, local comedian and 2008 Best Local Author winner Owen Egerton.

The event will be held at Austin Bat Cave, a tutoring and writing center for kids based on the model of 826 Valencia. It's free at the door, but all proceeds from drink donations will go to ABC's free tutoring, workshops, and in-school programs. We think of it as doing our part to ensure that all the disadvantaged geeks and losers from today's middle schools will have the same opportunity as their better-off classmates to grow up and someday publish a novel where the nerd wins out in the end.