Texas Teen Book Festival 2015 [press release]

I attended the Texas Teen Book Festival for several years (including its first year), back when it was the Austin Teen Book Festival.  So I'm quite excited to get to share some of the early details with y'all.

Texas Teen Book Festival 2015 date announced: Sept. 26 at St. Edward’s University

4,000-plus YA fans, hot authors anticipate gathering

AUSTIN— YA fans rejoice! The Texas Teen Book Festival will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, at St. Edward’s University.

The Texas Teen Book Festival is one of the largest of its kind in the nation, a highly anticipated annual event in the young adult literature world, drawing some of the most popular authors who write for the age group. More than 4,000 YA enthusiasts attended the Teen Book Festival in 2014 to hear a lineup of 29 authors, the first year that the gathering was held at St. Edward’s University.

The Texas Teen Book Festival is produced and sponsored by the Texas Book Festival and BookPeople, with support from St. Edward’s University and Humanities Texas, and in partnership with the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation. It is free and open to the public, thanks to sponsors and volunteers.

“We are excited to be back on the beautiful campus of St. Edward's University,” says Lois Kim, executive director of the Texas Book Festival. “It was wonderful to see the great turnout last year and so many enthusiastic teens. We anticipate TTBF 2015 being even better!”

A new component for this year’s gathering is the Texas Teen Book Festival Writing Contest, sponsored by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Texas residents ages 11-18 are invited to submit an outline plus writing sample, between 20 and 30 pages, by July 1 to vie for in-depth editorial feedback from Delacorte professionals. Submissions will be judged in age groups 11-13 and 14-18, and three overall winners will be selected.

Also this year, the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation’s Badgerdog creative writing program will host their annual reading and celebration at the Fest.

Headlining authors for the Texas Teen Book Festival will be announced later this spring. Follow the Fest on Facebook and Twitter, and check out the website for the latest announcements and news.

About the Texas Teen Book Festival

The Texas Teen Book Festival is a one-day event that celebrates the teen reading experience by inviting fans to visit with some of the most popular and critically acclaimed young adult authors in the country. The Texas Teen Book Festival was born as the Austin Teen Book Festival in 2009, when librarian Heather Schubert partnered with BookPeople to organize a gathering at Westlake High School. Five hundred people and 16 authors attended the first year. The event continued to grow, and in 2011-2013 was sponsored by the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation. In 2014 the Fest became a program of the Texas Book Festival and was renamed the Texas Teen Book Festival. One of the largest gatherings of its kind anywhere, the annual Fest takes place in the fall on the campus of St. Edward’s University. For more information, see texasteenbookfestival.org.