Texas Book Festival (TBF) and El Paso Community Foundation will host two public programs in El Paso, Texas on Saturday, February 15, 2025.
Families are invited to join us in the La Nube STEAM Discovery Center Blue Sky Lab, on Saturday morning, from 9–11 a.m., to enjoy a series of back-to-back sessions led by children’s author/illustrators Marcelo Verdad (The Dream Catcher), Andrea Beatriz Arango (It’s All Or Nothing, Vale), and Rhode Montijo (Skeletown: Más. ¡Menos!). The authors, some of whom are also illustrators, will lead interactive sessions for kids and their caretakers, including a hands-on activity making dream catchers, a storytelling workshop, and an illustration demonstration. Texas Book Festival will give away a limited number of copies of each author’s book following the program, and the authors will sign at the end of the event.
The event is free and open to the public, with no RSVP required.
On Saturday evening, from 5–7 p.m., the public is invited to a free program featuring 2024 TBF Texas Writer Award recipient, Naomi Shihab Nye, reading from her work at the historic Philanthropy Theatre, located at 125 Pioneer Plaza, El Paso, TX, 79901. The event will conclude with an audience Q&A followed by a book signing, with books available for purchase before and after the event, thanks to Barnes & Noble. The event is free with RSVP.
RSVP: An Evening with Naomi Shihab Nye
This visit marks three years of TBF events in El Paso and the first year of programming at the new La Nube. These public events will follow visits from authors Marcelo Verdad, Rhode Montijo, and Andrea Beatriz Arango to Aoy and Hart Elementary schools as part of TBF’s Reading Rock Stars program, where the organization will distribute 793 books to elementary school students in the region for them to add to their personal libraries; for some it will be the first book that they personally own. Reading Rock Stars is a program of Texas Book Festival that brings nationally recognized authors and illustrators to Title I elementary schools across Texas to inspire young readers with engaging presentations, stories, and conversations. The cumulative impact of TBF’s three years in El Paso amounts to more than 2,200 books distributed to students in the region and nine author visits since 2023. Please contact TBF Communications & PR Coordinator, Jose Rodriguez, to coordinate media coverage for this private program.
Through public family programs, TBF has distributed an additional 300+ books to families in the area.
These events are made possible thanks to the generous support of El Paso Community Foundation, Jordan Foster Construction, and La Nube STEAM Discovery Center.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Marcelo Verdad is the author/illustrator of The Worst Teddy Ever and El peor Teddy del mundo, which received a Blue Ribbon from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, was a 2022 Indigo Best Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Barnes and Noble Book Awards. He is also the author and illustrator of The Dream Catcher, and its Spanish edition, El atrapasueños. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where he dedicates his time to his young students at an art academy, and to his tiny furry life companion, Prana.
Andrea Beatriz Arango is the author of Newbery Honor Book Iveliz Explains It All and the Pura Belpré Honor Book Something Like Home. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she first became a teacher. She then spent a decade in the United States working in public schools and nonprofits. When she’s not busy writing about middle schoolers and their families, you can find her hoping to spot manatees at the beach. Andrea lives in Puerto Rico with her family and two dogs.
Rhode Montijo is the creator of Sí. ¡No! and Más. ¡Menos!, the first two books in his series set in Skeletown, a fun, imaginative world inspired by Día de los Muertos. He is also the author and illustrator of the Gumazing Gum Girl! chapter book series, as well as the picture books Cloud Boy and The Halloween Kid. Rhode received a BFA in illustration from California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) and lives near Los Angeles.
Palestinian-American writer, editor and educator Naomi Shihab Nye grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas. A graduate of Trinity University, she has been Young People’s Poet Laureate for the U.S. (Poetry Foundation), poetry editor for the New York Times magazine, and The Texas Observer, and a visiting writer in hundreds of schools and communities all over the world, currently at Texas State University. Her books include Grace Notes, Everything Comes Next, The Tiny Journalist, Voices in the Air, Sitti’s Secrets, Habibi, This Same Sky, & The Tree is Older than You Are: Poems & Paintings from Mexico. Her volume 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, was a finalist for the National Book Award. The Turtle of Oman and The Turtle of Michigan have both been part of the Little Read program, North Carolina. She received Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Texas Institute of Letters, The National Book Critics Circle (Ivan Sandrof Award), the Arab American Museum, and the National Book Critics Circle.
ABOUT TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL
With a vision to inspire Texans of all ages to love reading, Texas Book Festival connects authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas, and imagination. Founded in 1995 by former First Lady Laura Bush, Mary Margaret Farabee, and a group of volunteers, the nonprofit Texas Book Festival promotes the joys of reading and writing through its annual Festival Weekend, the Reading Rock Stars Title I elementary school program, the Real Reads Title I middle and high school program, grants to Texas public libraries, and year-round literary programming. The 2025 Texas Book Festival will take place from Nov. 8–9 in downtown Austin in the Texas Capitol and nearby venues and will feature renowned authors participating in panels, book signings, and activities. Thanks to generous donors, sponsors like presenting sponsor H-E-B, and volunteers, the festival remains free and open to the public. Learn more at texasbookfestival.org.
