About this Event
Please welcome Vanessa Angélica Villarreal and Derrick Austin to celebrate Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders!
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:
MAGICAL/REALISM: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders, is a personal essay collection about the erasure of memory and self, fragmented by migration, borders, and colonial and intimate violence, and re-story what has been lost through the narratives of American pop culture, using the lens of music, video games, and fantasy, from comparisons between Kurt Cobain and Selena, Beyoncé and Vicente Fernandez, the Witcher, and Game of Thrones, to repair deep wounds and imagine more possible futures.
About the author:
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal was born in the Rio Grande Valley to Mexican immigrants. She is the author of the essay collection Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders (Tiny Reparations Books, an imprint of Dutton Books and Penguin Random House, 2024) and the poetry collection Beast Meridian (Noemi Press, 2017). She is a recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award, a Kate Tufts Discovery Award nomination, and winner of the John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine’s The Cut, Harper’s Bazaar, Oxford American, Paris Review, Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and holds a doctorate in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she lives with her son and a loyal dog. Find her on Twitter @Vanessid.
About the moderator:
Derrick Austin is the author of Tenderness (BOA Editions, 2021), winner of the 2020 Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and Trouble the Water (BOA Editions, 2016) selected by Mary Szybist for the A. Poulin Jr, Poetry Prize. His third collection, This Elegance, is forthcoming from BOA Editions in Spring 2026. Black Sand, his first chapbook, was published Foundlings Press in 2022. His debut collection was honored as a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry, Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, and the Norma Faber First Book Award. Tenderness was a finalist for a Golden Poppy Award, Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, and a Northern California Book Award.
By purchasing a book from BookPeople, you are not only supporting a local, independent business – you’re showing publishers that they should continue sending authors to BookPeople.
Thank you for supporting Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, Derrick Austin, and your local independent bookstore!
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
BookPeople, 603 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, United States
USD 0.00