Texas Book Festival Update

To everyone, especially those in Texas, interested in the Texas Book Festival, here’s an update. Work and planning has definitely started for volunteers. For the staff at TBF, planning and work started even before the 2006 Festival ended. For them it’s been an ongoing, everyday, project.

But for those, like me, who are volunteers, we get to rest until the last few months. The first meeting for committee Chairs was in May. I missed it because I was out of town. I did go to the one in July. I gotta tell you, I loved the meeting. Not because we did anything spectacular. Reports, updates, plans aren’t usually enough to make you giddy, although it was great fun to hear the names of authors who’ve committed to attending and sponsors who’ve signed on. What I really liked was the excitement and commitment of the group. Everyone is hard at work and it’s a great group of people. We’ll be meeting again in September.

So far, we’ve had two additional calls for volunteer time, having nothing to do with the committee you may be assigned to. Both have to do with getting posters and information out to the public. I missed the one at the Book Festival office, since I had jury duty yesterday. I did make it to the one out in far east Austin yesterday (took me an hour to get there from my house). As we’ve done in years past, those who can come gather in a room to roll posters and inserts, band them, put them in mailing tubes, address labels, and get the tubes ready for mail or delivery to libraries across Texas. Sounds boring, but it’s not. Yesterday there were eight of us, all women, who chatted about all kinds of things, including books, of course.

Speaking of volunteers, the page to sign up as a volunteer at the Festival itself is now online. You can choose what event or area you’d like to work at, the time slot you’d like to work, and find out exactly what you’d be doing. As a personal plug, be sure to look at the events at the Austin Museum of Art (we’re first on the volunteer list). That’s what I’m chairing. I’m only asking for one volunteer per time slot. If you volunteer with me, you’ll be working with the writers, artists, and photographers presenting at the AMOA, helping to set up and take down, escorting to and from the green room there at the museum, helping with signings which will also take place at the museum, and a little bit of cleaning in-between presentations. Other than that, you get to greet at the door and watch the presentations. The only thing I ask is if you volunteer then find out you can’t make it, please let me know. You’ll have my contact info once you sign up. Since I only have one volunteer per shift, if you’re a no-show, I need to be prepared to work alone. With enough advance notice, I might be able to get one of my understanding good friends to fill in.

Check out the Texas Book Festival site and bookmark it. Things will change and new writers attending will be added. Whether you volunteer for me or someone else or if you’re just attending the myriad of events November 3-4, 2007, stop by the AMOA and say hi.