WHEN THE TOUGH GET GOING

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
| Location of Session: Coates Chapel
Middle Grade Sessions

Start of Signing: 1:30 pm
| Signing Location: Festival Marketplace

My Schedule

About the Event

In the novel-in-verse They Call Her Fregona, David Bowles returns to young poet Güero, who navigates romance and drastic social change at the start of eighth grade. In The Other Side of the River, Alda P. Dobbs continues Petra’s journey of displacement as her family moves from Mexico to San Antonio during the ongoing Mexican revolution. These two award-winning authors take the stage to discuss immigration, community, familial love, and revisiting favorite characters. The authors will be introduced by students from the Young Women’s Leadership Academy.

NOTE: Only Alda P. Dobbs will be signing books after this session. David Bowles will only sign books after his 1:40PM session.

About the Authors

David Bowles

David Bowles is a Mexican American author and translator from South Texas. Among his multiple award-winning titles are They Call Me Güero and The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Amerícas. His most recent books are They Call Her Fregona and Ancient Night. David presently serves as the vice-president of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Photo Credit: Kathleen O'Ryan

Alda P. Dobbs

Alda P. Dobbs is as passionate about connecting children to their past, their communities, and nature as she is about writing. She lives with her husband and two children outside Houston, Texas. Her first book, Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna, was a New York Public Library Book of the Year and a Texas Bluebonnet Master List Selection. The Other Side of the River is her new book.

Moderator

Erika Murray

Erika Murray is a lover and promoter of all things books and book-related. She is a certified school librarian and has worked in both elementary, middle, and high school libraries. Erika has a passion for connecting self-proclaimed non-readers of all ages to the book that hooks them and has them asking for more. She is a strong supporter of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement and believes that everyone deserves to see themselves reflected in the pages of books.