Mark Your Calendar

Literary Twofers: Inprint brings a double dose of fictive fun with Emma Donoghue& Hari Kunzru

Emma Donoghue's Astray
Author Emma Donoghue
Photo by © Nina Subin
Author Hari Kunzru
Photo by Michael Lionstar
Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men

Editor's Note: As part of CultureMap's State of the Arts series, we are highlighting upcoming fall arts events you won't want to miss.

The fall arts season is set to harvest a bumper crop of new books and visiting writers reading from them. The Houston bookstores’ calendars are filling up with author appearances and Inprint has an intriguing lineup scheduled for its Margarett Root Brown Reading Series with big names like Junot Diaz, T. C. Boyle, and Zadie Smith on its 2012-2013 roster for solo reads.

But the literary events we’re most looking forward to are the duet reads, like the double dose of new fiction from Emma Donoghue and Hari Kunzru on Nov. 12.

Readings with two or three novelist or poets tend to be nights of artistic discovery. On a kind of literary double date, we might find our eyes wandering over to this new guy sitting to our old love.

Yes, one of the best things about author readings is that one-on-one audience time we have together to listen to a work in an author’s own voice and then ask our questions. Yet, sometimes it’s double the fun when there are two writers sharing the podium for the price of one, be that price zero (students and senior citizens, if the Inprint event is not sold out) or five dollars (general admission tickets).

Readings with two or three novelist or poets tend to be nights of artistic discovery. We might be a fan of one writer but have little knowledge of the other. On a kind of literary double date, we might find our eyes wandering over to this new guy sitting next to our old love. Beguiled by the new imagined world he temps us to traverse, we decide to take him home with us too (in book form, of course).

There’s also always the possibility for a little discrete, always polite, onstage drama. During Inprint’s two-author events, they seem to enjoy sharing the spotlight most of the time, but there have been nights when the duet turned into a subtle duel because of a literary rivalry or a bad review one had written about the other. Nothing was said onstage, but the body language could have written a novel onto itself.

And sometime it's the other way around. During one Inprint event several seasons ago, two authors seemed rather taken with each other, so much so that they disappeared after the reading and even their agents didn’t know where they had absconded to a day later.

The first of four double author events during Inprint’s 2012-2013 season, the Donoghue and Kunzru read will probably not be so dramatic, but will certainly have some cool accents.

Donoghue is a Dublin born writer who now calls Canada her home. Her previous bestselling novel, Room, won the Orange Prize and was a finalist for the Booker Prize. Her new book Astray will have only been out for 10 days before her Houston appearance.

Novelist, journalist, and essayist Hari Kunzru was born in London, of English and Kashmiri parents, and now lives in New York. Named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, his latest novel Gods Without Men has been compared to David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. Gods Without Men tells multiple stories spanning from the eighteenth century to present day that are all in someway connected to the Pinnacle Rocks in the Mojave Desert.

If you enjoy finding those amazing two-for-one specials, mark your calendars for the those literary duets and trios coming this fall.

unspecified series568664047

In Memoriam

Legendary Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely dies at 78

Joe Ely/Facebook

Joe Ely was a major figure in Texas' progressive country scene.

Joe Ely, the legendary songwriter, singer and storyteller whose career spanned more than five decades, has died from complications related to Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and pneumonia. He was 78.

In a statement posted to his Facebook page, Ely died at his home in Taos, New Mexico, with his wife, Sharon, and daughter, Marie, at his side.

Born February 9, 1947, in Amarillo, Texas, Ely was raised in Lubbock and became a central figure among a generation of influential West Texas musicians. He later settled in Austin, helping shape the city’s reputation as a hub for live music.

As with many local legends, it's hard to tease out what specifically made Ely's time in Austin so great; Austin treasures its live music staples, so being around and staying authentic from the early days is often the most important thing an artist can do.

Ely got his local start at One Knight Tavern, which later became Stubb's BBQ — the artist and the famous venue share a hometown of Lubbock. He alternated nights with emerging guitar great Stevie Ray Vaughn. He built his own recording studio in Dripping Springs, and kept close relationships with other Texas musicians. Later in his career, Ely brought fans into the live music experience, publishing excerpts from his journal and musings on the road in Bonfire of Roadmaps (2010), and was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2022. Austin blues icon Marcia Ball was among Ely's friends who played the induction show.

"Joe Ely performed American roots music with the fervor of a true believer who knew music could transport souls," said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

In the 1970s, Ely signed with MCA Records, launching a career that included decades of recording and touring around the world. His work and performances left a lasting impact on the music scene and influenced a wide range of artists, including the Clash and Bruce Springsteen, according to Rolling Stone.

"His distinctive musical style could only have emerged from Texas, with its southwestern blend of honky-tonk, rock & roll, roadhouse blues, western swing, and conjunto. He began his career in the Flatlanders, with fellow Lubbock natives Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, and he would mix their songs with his through 50 years of critically acclaimed recordings. [...]"

Read the full story at KVUE.com. CultureMap has added two paragraphs of context about the Austin portion of Ely's career.

obituary music country music