UT Press at the 2015 Texas Book Festival

This weekend, the University of Texas Press and 13 of our authors will enjoy the 20th annual Texas Book Festival on the Capitol grounds in downtown Austin and environs. We'll have a booth on Colorado Street with tons of titles for sale at a great discount, so please stop by. There are a lot of wonderful authors in attendance this year, so we’ve distilled our authors' appearances into a single UT Press schedule (browse the full schedule here):

Saturday

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

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The Jemima Code

Author: Toni Tipton Martin

Moderated by Addie Broyles
Location: Central Market Cooking Tent

Come see Toni Tipton-Martin discusses recipes and stories from her book, The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, a comprehensive treasure.

Where to find the author online: @thejemimacode | Website

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM

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The Best I Recall: A Memoir
Author: Gary Cartwright

Moderated by John Spong
Location: Capitol Extension Room E2.028

Esteemed writer Gary Cartwright traces his career across Texas in his memoir, The Best I Recall. After working in publishing and journalism for over 60 years, Cartwright has acquired countless by-lines and numerous awards. Join the lively and talented author as he shares his stories.

2:45 - 3:30 PM

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Eli Reed: A Long Walk Home
Author: Eli Reed
Moderated by Steven Hoelscher
Location: The Contemporary Austin--Jones Center (700 Congress)

Eli Reed: A Long Walk Home presents the first career retrospective of Reed's work. Consisting of over 250 images that span the full range of his subjects and his evolution as a photographer, the photographs are a visual summation of the human condition.

UT Press Podcast Interview with Eli Reed:

Stories from the Hunter S. Thompson of Texas

The exploits and irreverence of Gary Cartwright's larger-than-life persona has led some to compare him to gonzo god Hunter S. Thompson. The comparison is apt, but Cartwright's fully-lived life seems less dogged by self-loathing. In his new memoir, The Best I Recall, the Texas journalist saunters through his wild years and arrives at a wisdom earned not just from befriending strippers, dope fiends, inmates, and politicians, but from harrowing heart surgery and losing his son, two wives, and a handful of friends to cancer.

There are laugh-out-loud moments, eloquent passages on

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friendship and grief, and the kind of you-can't-make-this-up stories your wild uncle might come up with if he had run-ins with the likes of Jack Ruby and Dennis Hopper. Here are a couple of the things you'll learn from reading The Best I Recall.

Come see Gary Cartwright himself this Saturday at Austin's historic Scholtz Garten on San Jacinto. Gary will be signing copies of his book from 3 to 5pm.

You Could Get Away With Some Stuff in 1970s Mexico

Some of Cartwright's exploits read like the plot of Argo but with much-mitigated consequences and more drug-fueled decision making. Cartwright and his "soul mate" writer Bud Shrake filmed a movie in Durango starring Dennis Hopper (Kid Blue, 1973). Before they got to the set, this happened:

We crossed into Mexico at Eagle Pass, where I convinced an overly diligent Mexican customs agent who was about to refuse Pete entrance because of his long hair that we were filming a movie about Jesus. Pete had been obliged to grow the facial hair, I explained to the confused customs agent, in order to convincingly portray the role of Our Savior.

On the same film shoot, the eccentric director made up his own rules for helming a feature film production. Cartwright recalls, "When his mostly British camera crew complained of fatigue and heat exhaustion, Marvin [Schwartz] laced their cocoa with amphetamines." Now that's problem-solving.