Children’s Area!
After five years of bringing fringe literature to the Houston community, the Houston Indie Book Festival has decided to expand our programming to serve the local children and parents that love independent literature.
All of our events are free and open to the public. So bring the family down to Menil Park on April 14th and spend the day enjoying what indie literature has to offer the family!
Readings
The 2012 readers, presented by the Houston Indie Book Festival and Inprint Readings, include children’s book authors, Andrea White and Ana María Rodríguez. For more information on the readers and the reading schedule, click here.
Workshops
Book Binding with the Houston Book Arts Guild
11:00 a.m.
Houston Independent Book Festival is excited to partner with the Houston Book Arts Guild for a free hour-long bookbinding workshop for children ages 7-12!
The workshop will focus on a variation of the pamphlet-style stitched books taught by Lee Steiner and Amanda Focke of the Houston Book Arts Guild. The workshop is usually taught in the Museum of Printing History’s Summer Book Arts Camp but Book Festival is proud to host this one-time session from 11:30-12:30 on April 14th on the Menil grounds.
Children and parents will learn bookbinding skills such as folding and nesting folios into signatures, threading ribbon on a blunt bookbinding needle, stitching, and secure the binding with a knot. These skills will provide a child with the basics to go on and independently produce their own small books!
All materials will be provided on the day of the event. Parents must accompany their child to the workshop and sign a waiver on-site to participate.
Slots for the book-binding event is first come-first served, so don’t be late!
Book Binding Registration Form Click to Download
Lee Steiner has been teaching herself and others hand papermaking and the book arts for more than a dozen years and has maintained her own art business and studio for eons.
Amanda Focke teaches bookbinding at the Museum of Printing History, is a member of the Houston Book Arts Guild, and publishes small custom editions of family stories. She is interested in sewn bindings, pop up books, box making and paper making.
Poetry Workshop
3:00 p.m.
Real-life writers Ryler Dustin, Janine Joseph, and Rebecca Wadlinger will lead a mini-workshop that takes children through the creative process of writing poetry. They’ll share a few poems, lead a conversation about inspiration, and use art as a starting point for students to create their own masterpieces.
Early registration will not be required.
Ryler Dustin is a winner of the Inprint Paul Verlaine Poetry Prize and has competed in several national poetry slams, in which poets perform their poems before live audiences and judges. He has even competed on the final stage of the Individual World Poetry Slam. He teaches young writers through WITS and Inprint at Project Row Houses, and his book, “Heavy Lead Birdsong,” was published by Write Bloody.
For more information on the workshops or to register early for a class, parents may contact Piyu Sen at indiebookfest@gmail.com.