TBF Lit Crawl - Torch Showcase

About this event

Join us for this inspiring evening of literature with Amy DuBois Barnett, LaToya Watkins, Amena Brown, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Renée Watson. Hosted by Amanda Johnston.

Click here to learn more about the Lit Crawl and the Texas Book Festival .

Torch Literary Arts is a proud community partner of the Texas Book Festival.

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This event is free and open to the public.

An award-winning media executive and author, Amy DuBois Barnett made history as the first Black woman to helm a major mainstream magazine in the US, as editor-in-chief of Teen People. She also served as editor-in-chief of Ebony and Honey , and was the deputy editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar . She has held senior leadership roles at Paramount, Hearst, Disney, Time Inc., and several independently owned media brands. Barnett has a BA from Brown University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. She resides in Los Angeles. If I Ruled the World is her debut novel.

LaToya Watkins is an award-winning author of two books. Her short story collection, Holler, Child , was longlisted for the National Book Award and the winner of the Reading the West Book Award in Fiction and the Writer’s League of Texas Book Award in Fiction. Her debut novel, Perish , was published to great acclaim in 2022. LaToya’s writing has appeared in A Public Space , The Sun , McSweeney’s , and the Kenyon Review , among other publications.

Amena Brown is an author, spoken-word poet, and performing artist whose work interweaves keep-it-real storytelling with humor. She is the author of How to Fix a Broken Record and Breaking Old Rhythms . Her poetry was featured in the New York Times bestselling book Rhythm of Prayer . Brown was featured in Olay’s Face Anything campaign alongside Jennifer Hudson. She was also the poetic partner for PATTERN Beauty, Tracee Ellis Ross’s natural hair care and beauty brand. A proud graduate of Spelman College, Amena is the author of the new comedic essay collection, Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl .

Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York Times -bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie Medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High —which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly , and School Library Journal —and Clap When You Land , which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus Prize finalist. She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem and Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC, with her family. You can visit her online at www.acevedowrites.com .

Renée Watson is a New York Times bestselling author. Her novel All the Blues in the Sky won the Newbery Medal, and Piecing Me Together received a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award. Her books include the Ryan Hart series, Some Places More Than Others , This Side of Home , What Momma Left Me , Betty Before X , cowritten with Ilyasah Shabazz, Watch Us Rise , cowritten with Ellen Hagan, and Love Is a Revolution , as well as acclaimed picture books: Summer Is Here, Maya’s Song , The 1619 Project: Born on the Water , written with Nikole Hannah-Jones, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen , and Harlem’s Little Blackbird , which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Renée splits her time between Portland, Oregon, and New York City.

Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. Torch has featured work by Colleen J. McElroy, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats.

This event was made possible with support from the City of Austin, the Burdine Johnson Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Austin Community Foundation, and the Texas Book Festival.