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Your A-List: Best Festival That’s Not ACL or SXSW
Famous musicians and filmmakers, comedy, and kites flying high above the Zilker Park sky are all nice, but when it comes to fests not called ACL or SXSW, it seems you prefer to broaden your horizons to more heady ventures, as evidenced by the Texas Book Festival coming out on top, with 49 percent of the vote, of the Your A-List poll for non-SXSW or ACL festivals.
Barack Obama, Padma Lakshmi, Amy Sedaris, Tom Perrotta. They may not be rock stars or famous faces from the silver screen, but each fall, names such as these, and hundreds of lesser known authors converge on the grounds of the state capitol for the annual homage to books and the brilliant minds behind them.
Established in 1995 by then First Lady Laura Bush, a former librarian, the festival was originally conceived as an event to honor Texas authors, promote the joys of reading and serve to benefit the state’s public libraries. Since its innaugural event in 1996, the festival has grown to become one of the most well-respected and popular in the country, with over 200 authors attending from around the world each year, presenting and signing for thousands of avid book lovers.
Austin may be best known for its live music and indie film scene, but the Texas Book Festival gives proof to the fact that Austin residents are equally committed to the beauty and entertainment of the written word.
Others receiving votes:
Out of Bounds Improv Festival, 26 percent
Old Pecan Street Festival, 7 percent
Austin Kite Festival, 4 percent
Austin Film Festival, 3 percent
Fun Fun Fun Fest, 2 percent
Keep Austin Weird Festival, 2 percent
Austin Reggae Festival, 2 percent
Old Settler’s Music Festival, 1 percent
Kerrville Folk Festival, 1 percent
Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, 1 percent
Art City Austin (formerly Austin Fine Arts Festival), 1 percent
Frontera Fest, <1 percent
Urban Music Festival, <1 percent
Black Arts Movement Festival, <1 percent
National Poetry Festival, <1 percent
Cine Las Americas, <1 percent
Fusebox, <1 percent
Write-ins: Carnaval Brasileiro, Eeyore’s Birthday and Ladies Are Funny Fest.
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