Austin Public Libraries are abuzz today with readings, panels, and workshops for their New Fiction Confab event which kicked off last night with a celebratory reading of David Foster Wallace's new novel, The Pale King. more ›

Fanatical "LOST" fans rejoice! J.J. Abrams, who is responsible for one of the most successful television shows of the last decade and the most confusing show of all time, is announcing exciting new work! Very little has been made public about this new project except that it is a novel, it “will explode the bonds of the novel in ways no book has ever done,” and that Abrams will be collaborating with Austin’s Doug Dorst. more ›

Make something special out of this Thursday night and buy a lottery ticket on your way over to Austin Bat Cave's Story Department reading series, where the theme is LUCK and the beer is free! You'll not only get to hear great local storytellers read their original pieces, you'll do a good deed as well, as the $10 admission will help the continuation of their free writing center and tutoring program for kids. Kids, people...drink and be merry for the kids! more ›

Riding a wave of critical adulation, current Austin resident and St. Edward’s creative writing teacher Doug Dorst comes to BookPeople tonight to read from The Surf Guru, his new collection of short stories. Dorst’s follow up to his highly praised debut novel, Alive in Necropolis, The Surf Guru is earning similar acclaim, including an Editors’ Choice selection in the New York Times Book Review and a starred review in Kirkus. more ›

Tonight at Joe’s Coffee on South Congress next to the San Jose, Austinist favorite Owen Egerton and a likely Austinist soon-to-be-favorite Doug Dorst will be reading and other shenanigans to celebrate the Fall Issue of American Short Fiction. Their cahooting will be accompanied by the decidedly Austin tones of Blood Country (formerly Chili Cold Blood), who appear to have a swell sense of humor about their motherfuckin’ selves. Words, music, and the potential for public wrestling betwixt the two writers are all practically inevitable. This is a splendid trifecta display of Austin creativity, and the potential for the accidental production of a unified singularity of said creativity which would cause an implosion of all that we know is, well, actually that idea is completely absurd. And absurdity is the name of tonight’s game. more ›