This year SABF will host a new 21+ event called Lit Happens on the evening of April 14, from 6 pm to 9 pm. Lit Happens is a night of engaging literary entertainment featuring SABF authors with libations on the side. Taking place on the eve of the festival, Lit Happens is a three-part celebration of storytelling and community in the heart of downtown San Antonio.

6PM Literary Apéritif
La Zona
The San Antonio Book Festival invites one and all to kick off our night of literary revelry with 2023 Book Festival author José Olivarez (Promises of Gold) and San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson. Food and drinks will be available as you enjoy this literary appetizer at La Zona outside of Texas Public Radio headquarters. Catch a DJ set courtesy of AM Project and food truck offerings from Mi Taquito Arandas Jalisco.

Emcee: Derrick Garcia

7PM Worth Repeating
Texas Public Radio

The second chapter of the evening takes place upstairs at Texas Public Radio in the form of the TPR live storytelling event, Worth Repeating. Stacked with San Antonio Book Festival authors, this storytelling session will include a selection of writers from our 2023 lineup as they take on the topic “Fight or Flight.”

Enjoy downtown views of the flowing San Pedro Creek while listening to stories from Rafael Agustin (Illegally Yours: A Memoir), Mahogany L. Browne (Chrome Valley), Stephen Graham Jones (Don’t Fear the Reaper), and Rebecca Makkai (I Have Some Questions for You).

This event will also be streamed outdoors at La Zona.

Emcee: Tori Pool, Events Manager at Texas Public Radio.

8PM Literary Death Match
Outdoors at Legacy Park
The night will officially end under the night sky with the return of Literary Death Match, a lethal (not literally) literary battle that places the fate of four Texas-connected authors in the hands of a panel of local judges. Following the Worth Repeating Event, organizers will lead the crowd a block down the road to Legacy Park where V. Castro (The Haunting of Alejandra), Rubén Degollado (The Family Izquierdo), Bobby Finger (The Old Place), and Jonny Garza Villa (Ander & Santi Were Here) will prove once and for all that the pen is the sharpest sword.

Drinks will be available on the premises. This is an outdoor event with limited seating on the Legacy Park lawn. Please dress comfortably. Some blankets will be provided so guests can recline as they enjoy their drinks and take in all the action. Those looking to extend the celebration after the dust settles can easily walk to several local bars.