About this Event
Please welcome David M. Parsons to celebrate Austin Relativity: Coming of Age in the '60s!
This event is free and open to the public.
- Start time: 7:00 P.M.
- Run time: 45-60 minutes, followed by a signing line.
- Location: The second floor of BookPeople.
The author will be signing and personalizing copies of the book after the speaking portion of the event.
- To get a book signed, a copy of the event book or an item of equal value must be purchased from BookPeople.
Guidelines:
- Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
- If you have any other questions, please visit our Eventbrite FAQ. If your question isn't covered in the FAQ, feel free to email us at [email protected].
- All event guidelines are subject to change.
- BookPeople reserves the right to cancel or postpone this event if necessary.
- There will not be a live stream or recording available.
About the book:
“The period of David Parsons's memoir is only a tick more than half a century distant, but its world seems almost archaeologically remote. It's a time when the local mayor stops to give a lift to a young man whose car has run out of gas; an acquaintance gets him a position in the state legislature; as a slightly older young man, he starts his own men's clothing business with minuscule capital and no business experience. That hometown, one that had no shopping malls as yet, is now the tenth-largest city in the U.S. But even back then, alas, there were hints of things to come: for instance, in one of the first mass shootings in America, the author witnessed it from a nearby beer garden, almost as if on television. Parsons has a keen memory of people he has known (a breathless mix) as well as his own personal feelings of failure and success. But he also has his ear to the ground in reporting general social and cultural scenes, which he documents with fearless lucidity, complemented with the generously lyrical poems one would expect from this former Texas State Poet Laureate. This book is, as folks were starting to say back then, "a trip."
--Kurt Heinzelman, Professor of Poetry and Poetics Emeritus, The University of Texas-Austin
About the author:
David M. Parsons, 2011 Texas Poet Laureate, has been the recipient of a National Endowment of Humanities Dante Fellowship to the State University of New York, the French-American Legation Poetry Prize, and the Baskerville Publisher’s Prize from TCU for an outstanding poem published in their literary journal, descant. He holds ten Writing Awards from the Lone Star College System. Parsons grew up in Austin and after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve as a Squad Leader in a rifle company and a Recon-Scout Boat Team Leader, he attended The University of Texas (Austin) and Texas State University, where he holds a BBA. After several years in business, advertising, and coaching baseball and basketball at Bellaire High School, he received an MA in Creative Writing & Literature from the University of Houston. Parsons has taught Creative Writing at Lone Star College Montgomery since 1992. He also founded and teaches veteran theme English Rhetoric class. For several years, he was the sponsor/coach of a Handball Team that placed in the National College Handball Tournaments.
He has published seven books of poetry, including, Life, Love, and the Editing Sky (winner of the 1999 Texas Review Poetry Prize and a 2000 Violet Crown Book Award Special Citation) and Far Out Poems of the 60’s, an anthology he co-edited with late Wendy Barker (longtime UTSA Poet in Residence). He was inducted into The Texas Institute of Letters in 2009. He lives in Conroe, Texas with his wife, Nancy Dazey Parsons, an award-winning fine artist and graphic designer. They have four grown children. (www.daveparsonspoetry.com)
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Thank you for supporting David M. Parsons and your local independent bookstore!
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
BookPeople, 603 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, United States
USD 0.00
