If you want to know more about the real Texas, as well as how Texas is perceived by others, you really need to see, hear, and read Don Graham. This renowned writer about Texas culture is a featured author on the program at the East Texas Book Fest, September 25. He speaks in the 11:15-12:15 period. He will also be around during the rest of the day to talk to attendees about Texas and his work.

The East Texas Book Fest takes place in the Ornelas Activity Center at 3402 Old Omen Road in Tyler. The doors open at 10:00 a.m. to reveal some 40 authors displaying their books and visiting with attendees about their work. During the day, there will also be three “Author Talks,” in which outstanding writers talk to the whole of the audience. In addition, there will be two break out periods during which attendees can join round table discussions lead by leading authors, marketers, and teachers. The East Texas Book Fest is free of charge for the public.

An award winning author, Graham’s most recent book is State Fare: An Irreverent Guide to Texas Movies, published in 2008. He is currently finishing a book titled Texas Culture and Its Discontents to be published in 2010.

Among the earlier books that established Graham as a guru on Texas, are Cowboys and Cadillacs: How Hollywood Looks at Texas; Texas: A Literary Portrait; No Name on the Bullet: A Biography of Audie Murphy; and Kings of Texas: The 150-Year Saga of an American Ranching Empire.

His books are widely popular with both readers and with critics. In 1998, Giant Country: Essays on Texas won a Violet Crown Award. Kings of Texas won the Carr P. Collins Prize for Best Nonfiction Book of the Year, awarded by the Texas Institute of Letters, in 2004. It was also a finalist for a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. In 2008, Graham received the A.C. Greene Literary Award from the West Texas Book and Music Festival.

If you are wondering if Graham can talk as well as he writes, rest assured that he can. He is a very popular teacher at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is the J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor of American and English Literature. Indeed, he is also an award-winning teacher. In 2006 he received the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching at the University of Texas.

Graham’s full publications list includes scores of articles and essays, as well as more books dealing with Texas culture. Among the favorites are four collections that he edited: South by Southwest: 24 Stories from Modern Texas; Giant Country: Essays on Texas; Lone Star Literature: From the Red River to the Rio Grande, an Anthology of Texas Writing; and Literary Austin.

Graham is past-president of the Texas Institute of Letters and a Writer-at-Large for Texas Monthly. His essays in this magazine won him the Best General Criticism Award for 2005 from the City and Regional Magazine Association.

A native Texan, Graham was born in Collin County, north of Dallas. He attended high school in Carrolton, Texas, graduated from North Texas State University with a B.A. and M.A., and took his doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin.

Dr. Don Graham is one of eight authors who will be speaking about their work during “Authors Talk” sessions at the East Texas Book Fest.

The Book Fest is made possible by generous grants from the Friends of the Arts at UT Tyler and Humanities Texas, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Other sponsors include Southside Bank, Target Distribution Center, and the Friends groups at the Bullard Community Library, the Lindale Library, the Troup Municipal Library, the Tyler Public Library, and the Whitehouse Community Library.

For more information about the East Texas Book Fest, check out the Book Fest website.