At the beginning of every summer season, book industry professionals and book worms from around the globe gather at Book Expo America in New York City to get the inside scoop on big titles coming out in the summer and fall. These are the books that are bound to make the must-reads and the bestselling lists.
Clay Smith, editor of Austin-based Kirkus Reviews, gives a sneak peek into trending Texas titles at the expo. Among his picks is The “Thalia” trilogy by Texas author Larry McMurtry. Three of McMurtry’s early novels “Horseman, Pass By,” “Leaving Cheyenne” and “The Last Picture Show” are bound into one collection that Smith says will interest general readers, not just those into Western fiction. “Thalia” is the setting for all three stories and is based on McMurtry’s hometown of Archer City, Texas.
Another book featured at the Expo, “Bluebird, Bluebird,” by FOX TV’s “Empire” screenwriter Attica Locke is about an African-American Texas ranger who hunts down a killer.
“The depiction of race relations in East Texas is a very prominent aspect of that novel,” Smith says.
Smith also sees a move to books involving conspiracy theories and predicts an uptick in political novels.
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– What Texas-based books about to hit the shelves
– When the latest book in the “Da Vinci Code” series drops
– Whether there be a slackening market for e-books
Listen to the full interview in the audio player above.
Written by Louise Rodriguez.