A Merry Winter Weekend at Malvern Books

It’s been a terrifically eventful few days here at the bookstore, so without further ado—let’s put on our recapping hat and get to work!

On Friday evening we played host to a multi-talented duo: Nathan Brown and Jena Kirkpatrick. For anyone who thinks literary readings are po-faced, pretentious affairs, well, Friday night at Malvern Books would’ve proved you utterly wrong, as Nathan and Jena were down to earth and hilarious, and their poetry and music had the crowd laughing and cheering and tapping their feet. If you missed out on this very fun night of brilliant words and music (and a fairly tasty assortment of complimentary cookies and cheese), do yourself a favor and check out the footage below, which features, among other things, Nathan’s memorable post break-up song, “I’m Functioning So Well,” and Jena’s ode to Austin hippies. (These videos are just a sample… be sure to watch the rest on Malvern’s YouTube channel.)

On Saturday afternoon we were delighted to be the chosen venue for the annual Texas Poetry Calendar reading. For the past seventeen years, the Austin reading for the Texas Poetry Calendar has been the culmination of the fall events calendar for Dos Gatos Press, an Austin publishing house founded by Scott Wiggerman (the afternoon’s MC) and David Meischen in 2004. This year’s calendar reading was chock-full of fantastic verse, with close to thirty poets sharing their Texas-related work (about a quarter of the poets featured in the calendar). Enjoy hearing from a few of the poets below—and take a look at photos from the event on Facebook.

No rest for bookstores! On Sunday afternoon we celebrated the recent Vision + Voice collaboration between Austin Community College and the Austin Independent School District. Vision + Voice is a program that encourages literacy and creative expression by combining artwork from ACC students with poetry from AISD students—and we were thrilled to host an art opening and poetry reading that promotes this wonderful joint venture. When you next stop by the store to avail yourself of our Holiday Gift Card Offer, check out the fabulous Vision + Voice artwork that adorns our walls!