Results tagged “royblount”

About 100 Austin literary aficionados gathered Wednesday night at St. Edward’s University to sample wine, duck and brie quesadillas and the ambiance of Roy Blount stories. It was the Writers’ League of Texas spring fund raiser. As Blount set his wine glass on the podium, it started to slide. He deftly caught it and remarked, “I hate slanted podiums. They must think that a man can’t drink and lecture at the same time.” He, of course, can, though the evening felt more like a living room chat than a formal talk. He mostly told tales. Even the question and answer period was a dialog, with frequent comments and friendly interruptions from the audience. His journalist story about a trip to the Bellaire home of Wilt Chamberlain displayed the keen ear and comic mime ability of southern story tellers. He was funny, in a high humor sense. One of many writers who rose from the ranks of magazine journalists, he published his 21st book, Alphabet Juice, last year.

Usually, street closures around the Capitol hail the arrival of one of Austin's many street festivals, where you can listen to a wishy-washy blues-rocker do his best to channel Stevie Ray Vaughn while you eat a turkey leg amongst a sea of fanny-packed families and homemade jewelry vendors. But once a year it means it's Texas Book Festival time. As literary events go in this town, it is the big one. For two days...