Annual Book Festival

Fort Bend County Libraries (FBCL) will feature this year’s “Community Reads” author Stacey Swann as the headliner at the annual Book Festival 2024, which takes place on Saturday, November 16, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, at George Memorial Library (1001 Golfview) in Richmond, Texas.

The keynote address by Stacey Swann will take place from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, in the Meeting Room of the library. Additional presentations, workshops, author appearances, and a live dance performance are planned throughout the event.

In her author talk, Swann will read an excerpt from her debut novel, “Olympus, Texas,” released in 2021. She will talk about how the development of the characters’ unique voices and experiences helps to immerse readers in a specific culture and enables them to understand universal truths, widening their view of human interactions and family dynamics.

FBCL’s 2024 “Community Reads” selection, “Olympus, Texas” is set in a modern-day rural Texas town, where everybody knows everybody. The novel cleverly weaves elements of classical Greek and Roman mythology into a thoroughly modern family saga, rich in drama and psychological complexity.

Originally from Sealy, Texas, Swann is a longtime teacher and editor who now lives and writes in Lampasas County, Texas. She holds an MFA from Texas State University and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her fiction has appeared in Epoch, Memorious, Versal, and other journals. She is a contributing editor of American Short Fiction.

The Book Festival will also feature workshops designed to encourage aspiring writers of all ages and genres. Creative and inspiring programs are planned for children as well as adults who dream of becoming published authors. Readers will also have an opportunity to visit with local authors at a meet-and-greet area throughout the event.

About the FBCL Book Festival

Fort Bend County Libraries’ Book Festival celebrates books, authors, and the importance of literature to the imagination. Participants may attend the whole day, or they can choose which individual session(s) they would like to attend.

Highlights include:

• 10:00 am-2:00 pm – Author Meet & Greet, Lobby. Readers will have an opportunity to visit with local published authors, including Taki Zyngtara, Susan Nwokedi, Monica Vidalon-Wolf, Tiffany Obeng, and Dee Osah, who will all be available for questions, autographs, and photographs. Books will be available for sale and signing.

• 10:00 am-2:00 pm – Kids’ Book Carnival, Bohachevsky Gallery. Games and activities for families with kids of all ages.

• 11:00-11:45 am – Polynesian Storytelling Performance, Jodie E. Stavinoha Amphitheater. Young Audiences of Houston teaching artist Malia’s Hula Hut will demonstrate the beautiful storytelling techniques that are woven into the song and dance of Polynesia, including the hula from the islands of Hawai’i, Tahitian from the islands of Tahiti, the Haka and Poi Balls of New Zealand, and fire-knife dancing from Samoa. Although these dances may often be seen performed together in a Polynesian show, they are unique and represent various cultures.

• 12:00-12:45 – Polynesian Storytelling Performance (repeat of 11:00 am show)

• 1:00-2:00 pm – A Conversation with Stacey Swann, author of “Olympus, Texas,” the 2024 “Community Reads” selection. Meeting Room. Hear about the inspiration for the novel, how Austin County is woven into the story, and how mythology influences the plot. Swann will talk about the themes of family and forgiveness, as well as her writing process.

• 1:00 pm – Book Lovers Raffle, Meeting Room.

• 10:00 am-12:00 noon – Mythic Mayhem Escape Room, Meeting Room. In this come-and-go activity, teams of up to 8 members will enter through a virtual portal into another place and time, where they must solve puzzles to find their way through multiple mythical worlds to return to the present!

• 10:00 am-2:00 pm – Friends of the Library Book Sale, front entrance.Cash and checks are welcome; credit cards cannot be accepted.

Food trucks will be on hand, and visitors are invited to eat lunch while enjoying the festive atmosphere of a live dance performance in the outdoor amphitheater.

The event is made possible by the Friends of the George Memorial Library.

The Book Festival is free and open to the public. For more information, see the Fort Bend County Libraries website (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us) or call the library system’s Communications Office (281-633-4734).