TTBF is presented in collaboration with the Texas Book Festival, BookPeople, a dedicated team of volunteers, librarians, and venue sponsor St. Edward’s University. The program is made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Mission
The Texas Teen Book Festival fosters a community effort to celebrate and promote reading and writing by connecting teens to local and award-winning authors, whose writing spans across genres and interest levels.
Goals
– Have fun!
– Connect teen readers to local and award-winning authors
– Encourage interaction between aspiring writers and established authors
– Bring together teens who enjoy reading and to encourage struggling readers
– Support, promote, and celebrate recreational teen reading
– Promote life-long reading
History
The Texas Teen Book Festival (TTBF) is a one-day event that celebrates the teen reading experience by inviting fans to engage with some of the most popular and critically acclaimed young adult authors in the country. The TTBF started as the Austin Teen Book Festival in 2009, when librarian Heather Schubert partnered with BookPeople to organize a gathering at Westlake High School that hosted 16 authors and 500 attendees. The event continued to grow, and in 2011-2013 was sponsored by the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation. In 2014 the Fest was renamed the Texas Teen Book Festival and is currently a collaboration of the Texas Book Festival, BookPeople, and a dedicated group of librarian volunteers. 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.