SPECIAL EVENTS

Celebrate the Fourth Annual Houston Indie Book Festival along with dozens of nationally-distributed literary journals, local booksellers, publishers, small presses, literary organizations, and authors at the Menil Park on Saturday, April 2nd from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Co-sponsored by NANO Fiction and Gulf Coast, the festival showcases the efforts of writers, artists, teachers, community members, and cultural groups working to make the arts and humanities a vibrant part of the Houston community.

The festival will offer readings by local authors throughout the day, including: children’s book author Gwendolyn Zepeda; fiction writers Sophie Rosenblum, Ann Weisgarber, Amelia Gray, and Ryan Call; as well as poet Hayan Charara. The Houston Indie Book Fest and Inprint Readings will take place every hour from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

This year’s festival is set to correspond with the Menil Collection’s Open House event. Alongside the book fair, visitors can enjoy outdoor art exhibits, tours of the Menil campus, art demonstrations, live music, food trucks, and much more!

This event is free, and everyone in the community is invited to participate in what has become Houston’s only event of its kind.

Since 2008, the Houston Indie Book Festival has steadily expanded from a small gathering of local bookstores and artists to a full-scale regional event. To date, more than fifty exhibitors from all over Texas and the U.S. are scheduled to participate.

More information about the Houston Indie Book Festival is available online at www.indiebookfest.org.

Founded in 2006 by Kirby Johnson and Jennifer Eberhardt, NANO Fiction publishes twice a year with issues appearing in the spring and fall. NANO Fiction is based out of Houston, Texas. Please visit their website at http://nanofiction.org.

Founded in 1986 by University of Houston faculty members Philip Lopate and Donald Barthelme, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts publishes and promotes quality literature in our local and national communities, and seeks to teach excellence in literary publishing to graduate and undergraduate students. In addition to the Houston Indie Book Festival, Gulf Coast hosts the Gulf Coast Reading Series at Brazos Bookstore. Gulf Coast is published twice annually, in April and October. Website:  http://www.gulfcoastmag.org/.

The Menil Collection is a museum dedicated to preserving and exhibiting the art collection of Houston philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil. Its diverse holdings represent many world cultures and thousands of years of human creativity, from prehistoric times to the present day. Assembled over the course of many decades, the collection—which continues to grow—is widely recognized for its depth and eclecticism. At the Menil visitors view art in a tranquil, contemplative setting. Admission to the Menil is always free of charge. Website:  http://www.menil.org/.

The Houston Indie Book Festival is supported by the Houston Arts Alliance, The Houston Endowment, Inc., Inprint, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Texas Commission on the Arts, and the University of Houston’s Department of English.