Inprint's birthday

An ultra hot book party: Tickets for 87-year-old author's reading disappear in an Internet flash

By Tarra Gaines

05.13.13 | 2:42 pm

Turning 30 usually calls for a blowout birthday party, but for Inprint, Houston’s preeminent literary arts organization, turning 30 was the perfect excuse to create a whole, new party ...

Embracing our new poet overlord

Houston's first poet laureate weighs in on the Astrodome, Television Without Pity and poetic freedom

By Tarra Gaines

05.07.13 | 1:19 pm

Do the bluebonnets seem a deeper blue this spring, Houston? Are this year’s baby owls a tad more hootier? Is life just richer this May? Perhaps the reason is ...

Inprint Reading Series

The Ecstasy of The Shining: Novelist and fan champion Jonathan Lethem enters Room 237

By Tarra Gaines

04.21.13 | 3:34 pm

If given the opportunity to interview an acclaimed and award-winning novelist, I would not advise to begin with: “Hey, is it cool if instead of discussing your latest work, we ...

George H.W, Bush is frisky

Barbara Bush reveals an unexpected marital woe in a $2.1 million night for reading: Can't contain the sock man

By Tarra Gaines

04.21.13 | 6:01 am

Barbara Bush may have stepped down as the chair of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and into an honorary role, but her humor and drive certainly remain a ...

Family secrets are at the heart of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's new novel, Oleander Girl

By Tarra Gaines

04.03.13 | 11:24 am

In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's new novel, Oleander Girl, a young Indian woman's engagement ceremony is shattered when the grandfather who has raised her falls mortally ill, and with ...

Sword deluge

Game of Thrones explained: Strategic moves promise a bloody tournament of champions

By Tarra Gaines

04.01.13 | 6:33 am

With dragons, dire wolves, and Medieval intrigue, HBO’s hit and Emmy-winning series Game of Thrones returned to our television screen appropriately on March 31. As we saw last season ...

Inprint Reading Series

Hurricane Katrina troubles and inspires National Book Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward

By Tarra Gaines

03.24.13 | 12:49 pm

In 2005, author Jesmyn Ward was staying with her family in her hometown of DeLisle, Miss., when Hurricane Katrina stuck. The storm destroyed homes, devastated the community and silenced Ward ...

The Voice

Blake Shelton charms near-record RodeoHouston crowd with powerful songs & killer personality

By Tarra Gaines

03.16.13 | 6:16 am

In his 2010 No. 1 hit single “Hillbilly Bone,” Blake Shelton tells the story of a New Yorker who comes down South, goes honky-tonkin' for the first time and takes ...

Read on

Here's the story: National Women's History Month draws top female authors to Houston

By Tarra Gaines

03.10.13 | 2:53 pm

March is National Women’s History month, and we’re going to celebrate by embracing the story part of history. By both happenstance and in recognition of the month, many ...

Upstairs, downstairs

In an up-and-down season, change comes to Downton Abbey with shocking cliffhanger

By Tarra Gaines

02.17.13 | 10:30 pm

Spoiler alert: This column reveals crucial information about Downton Abbey's season ending episode.  In the first episode of Downton Abbey’s third season, Cora Crawley’s wealthy American mother ...

Partying like a poet

Inprint celebrates its 30th year, exceeds fundraising goals at the Poet & Writers Ball

By Tarra Gaines

02.13.13 | 3:50 pm

The Inprint Poet & Writers Ball is undoubtedly Houston's biggest literary bash each year, but the nonprofit had even more cause for celebration during last weekend's festivities: Over 400 ...

5 tips + 1 bonus

Quit the worrying: Foolproof ways to take the stress out of your wonderful wedding

By Tarra Gaines

02.05.13 | 12:34 pm

Planning that perfect wedding can be one of the most stressful experience of a couple’s life. To help alleviate some of that pressure for perfection, CultureMap talked to a ...

Book Talk

The replacement: Michael Chabon sends Houston's book-loving community into a tizzy

By Tarra Gaines

01.28.13 | 6:46 am

When Zadie Smith had to bow out of the Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, there was much disappointment that was soon followed by much rejoicing when Michael Chabon agreed ...

Stellar surfaces

A New Year's resolution for a more beautiful kitchen: Weighing in on countertop options

By Tarra Gaines

01.13.13 | 12:30 pm

I already exercise daily and eat lots of veggies, so when it comes to New Year's resolutions, I'm resolving in 2013 to get my home into shape — starting ...

Memoir to movie to memoir: Nick Flynn reenacts the making of Being Flynn in new book

By Tarra Gaines

01.12.13 | 10:51 am

When we remember, when we search those images of the past stored in our minds, we many times are not just reminiscing but trying to find some meaning in our ...

Season 3 is here

Return to Downton Abbey: Who's who — and what to expect — in PBS's most addictive show

By Tarra Gaines

01.06.13 | 6:00 am

With the New Year here, it’s time for PBS to open the doors of Downton Abbey once more. Public Broadcasting’s hit period drama is one of our two ...

The World's End

Your cheat sheet to the Mayan apocalypse: Doomsday survival tips, new insights & doubters

By Tarra Gaines

12.20.12 | 11:57 am

Obviously still feeling cocky after showing off its Gangnam Style moves, NASA has released a video to be viewed on Dec. 22 titled “Why the World Didn’t End Yesterday ...

Book gift guide

Sex, satire, fashion, food & literature: Nice and naughty books for everyone on your list

By Tarra Gaines

12.19.12 | 1:48 pm

With less than a week left for holiday shopping, we at CultureMap would like to offer a happy medium between street brawls in Target and Neiman Marcus and just giving ...

Author Shuffle

The reading must go on: Zadie Smith bows out of Inprint talk and a Pulitzer Prize star steps in

By Tarra Gaines

12.18.12 | 2:31 pm

In a shake up to the 2012-2013 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, one celebrated author exits as a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist agrees to take her place. Novelist Zadie ...

The mother of golden eggs

Stages' Kenn McLaughlin talks Panto Mother Goose & creating world premiere theater

By Tarra Gaines

12.15.12 | 2:00 pm

During the holidays, many of our Houston performing arts institutions present the same beloved traditional fare they have been producing for years, if not decades. Five years ago, Stages Repertory ...