Editor’s note: The inaugural Fredericksburg Book Festival will host 11 well-known and accomplished adult and children’s authors — all from Texas — on Saturday, Jan. 18, and the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post has published articles of each one in recent weeks. The day of the event will be filled with interactive panels, author readings, children’s activities, and book signings and sales.
By Ken Esten Cooke
Standard-Radio Post publisher
To say author Stephen Harrigan is an institution in Texas Letters is not an exaggeration. Harrigan has penned, most famously around these parts, “The Gates of the Alamo” along with the monumental “Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas” and umpteen articles for the state’s flagship magazine, Texas Monthly, which marked five decades of his work in 2024.
The writer said last week he thinks of himself more as a historian as opposed to strictly a journalist, and uses that lens to craft more interest into his stories.
“I want the things I wrote as a journalist to feel somewhat timeless, if that’s possible,” he said.
And timeless his books and articles have become.
The Wall Street Journal called 2019’s “Big Wonderful Thing,” the 944-page narrative of the Lone Star State’s triumphs and struggles “… popular history at its best.”
“The Gates of the Alamo” was a New York Times best-seller and won the Spur Award for Best Novel of the West.
“Remember Ben Clayton,” published in 2011, was praised by the The Wall Street Journal as “a poignantly human monument to our history.”
“Unlike a newspaper reporter, I have the luxury of writing at length and my deadlines were weeks or even months apart,” Harrigan said. “So I had the time to just kind of embed myself and do a lot of research that you can’t do on a daily deadline.”
Harrigan’s best articles from Texas Monthly will be compiled into a new collection of stories and essays will be published in the fall.
“I had the opportunity to go back and look at a lot of stuff and see what fit together and what stories resonate,” Harrigan said. “Being a writer or journalist gives us the permission to go places and do things that you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. So when I look back on my career as a magazine writer, it’s not so much the stories, but it’s the experiences I had.”
Harrigan said he is beginning research on a project that will generate some local interest and he was recently in Fredericksburg to look up historical information relating to this town’s founding.
The potential sequel to his “Gates of the Alamo” tome could involve a lot of German immigrants to Texas in the 1840s and the settling of places like Fredericksburg and New Braunfels.
“It’s really interesting reading these accounts by Prince Solm and Meusebach, Lindheimer and people like that about what Fredericksburg was like in those days — and what a paradise it seemed even though in their minds it was in a very hostile wilderness,” Harrigan said.
“It’s interesting to compare the Fredericksburg we see now to the town in, not just the 1840s, but to the Fredericksburg of the 1970s,” he said. “The place is booming and it’s an interesting way to measure time and how communities and the world views them.”
He said he wanted to walk around on a recent weekend but found difficulty finding a place to park.
“I’m looking forward to being there (for the festival),” Harrigan said. “It will be nice to meet people from there.”
Harrigan will be interviewed in a conversation at St. Joseph’s Halle at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 18.
About the book festival
The festival in January will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, with a dedication in honor of Thelma McDaniel Phillips, the first librarian of Pioneer Memorial Library.
Attendance and activities are free and will take place at Pioneer Memorial Library, John William Klein Room at Marktplatz and St. Joseph’s Halle from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Typewriter Rodeo will create poetry on the spot, a trolley will transport attendees between the three venues throughout the day and food and beverage will be available for purchase at Marktplatz.
Adult authors, who will speak at St. Joseph’s Halle, include: • Kimberly Garza, National Endowment for the Arts 2024 creative writing fellow and associate professor and director of Creative Writing and English at the University of Texas at San Antonio, whose debut novel is “The Last Karankawas.”
• Stephen Harrigan, historian and author of “The Gates of the Alamo,” “Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas” and more.
• Michael Hurd, historian, biographer, sportswriter and author of “Thursday Night Lights: The Story of Black High School Football.”
• Naomi Shihab Nye, poet, novelist and author of “Everything Comes Next,” “Grace Notes” and more.
• Stacey Swann, author of “Olympus,
Texas” and more.
• Ashley Winstead, novelist and author of “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife,” “The Last Housewife,” “The Boyfriend Candidate,” and more.
Children’s book authors at the John William Klein Room at Marktplatz include:
• Chris Barton, author of “Fire Truck vs. Dragon” and more.
• Diana Lopez, author of “Coco: A Story about Music, Shoes and Family” and more middle grade novels.
• Co-authors Sheri Phillabaum and Roy Ellzey, with illustrator Liz Painter, “Who Loves the Dark” and “The Legend of the Fire Stag.”
• Amy Schwede Beicker, local author of “Main Street Mockingbirds.”
• Don Tate, author and illustrator of “Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton,” “Jerry Changed the Game” and more.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities, contact Marc Hess at fullfathom505@gmail.com.
For more information, visit the festival’s Facebook page @ Fredericksburg Book Festival or email friendsofthewrittenword@gmail.com.
About Friends of the Written Word
The Fredericksburg Book Festival promotes literacy, facilitates connection between authors and readers, and celebrates public libraries as a fun and inviting center of discovery, community and conversation. The festival is a function of the Friends of the Written Word Inc., a 501(c)3 organization.
