Irving Public Library to Host Inaugural North Texas Teen Book Festival

Editor's note: The North Texas Teen Book Festival takes place March 7 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd. For complete information about the event, visit the festival's website.

One of the most anticipated young adult literary events in the Dallas area takes place this spring in Irving, TX, a Dallas suburb. The inaugural North Texas Teen Book Festival (NTTBF), hosted by the Irving Public Library (IPL), is emerging on the book festival scene with a splash book fans might expect of a more established event.

Years in the making, the festival is the brainchild of IPL's Teen Librarian Kristin Treviño. Armed with a small budget and much ingenuity, she began organizing young adult author signings at the library in 2011.

These glitzy events, complete with elaborate decorations, crafts, and refreshments in addition to the signings and book sales, gained the kind of momentum and success that captured the attention of the area's teachers, book publishers, and the young adult literary community. The positive reception laid the foundation for Treviño's ultimate dream, a festival celebrating young adult and middle grade literature in Irving. The closing of the city's last commercial book store in 2013 created the impetus for Trevino and the library to step in and fill a critical need.

Asked about her motivation for organizing a teen book festival, Treviño said the necessity for a local event was clear. "Today's marketplace shows that it's one of the most fertile periods in the history of teen literature, with strong writing and sales in fiction for readers ages 12-18." She feels the library is a dynamic resource to encourage reading for pleasure in Irving's teens, particularly when offered with innovative programming that connects readers with the exciting world of young adult literature. What began as a few author panels scheduled as part of Irving's annual summer reading program has taken on a life of its own. The festival's single day will host nearly double the number of authors the library system hosted in the 2014.

Fundraising was a crucial early step in making an event like the festival happen, Treviño said, noting that finding money hasn't always been easy. "There were some tense moments when we launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the first $10,000 from community donors. We knew the community was behind us, but it was still a painfully slow start. We worked every networking angle we could find. It amazed us when we surpassed our goal with days to spare!" A grant from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission put them over the top, Treviño said. "It covered our remaining expenses. We could afford a large enough space at the Irving Convention Center for the 51 authors we had booked." Visiting authors include Stephanie Perkins, John Corey Whaley, David Levithan, Ally Condie, D.J. MacHale, Leigh Bardugo, Julie Murphy and Gordon Korman.

Treviño commented that while she has become more or less the face of the festival, work by many individuals have gone into making the event it a reality, and she is quick to acknowledge their efforts. "Area school and public librarians are responsible for the festival. I got the ball rolling, but I have great mentors in South Irving Library's manager Amanda Hipp and Director of Libraries Christine Dobson. The steering committee, with Dr. Rose Brock of the Coppell (TX) Independent School District, Hope Krum, a middle school librarian from Irving (TX) Independent School District, Mandy Aguilar of the Forever YA's DFW Chapter, and Kayte Ghaffar, a freelance graphic designer with an educator background, has been phenomenal. The Irving Independent School District and the Friends of the Irving Public Library have been there from the beginning. The Irving Public Library gives us the freedom to eat, sleep and dream teen literature."

Publicity has been another key component in the preparation. In addition to the more traditional means, social media is playing a central role in getting the word out, Treviño said, noting the postings of book cover mash-ups on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to announce the author lineup. The efforts appear to be generating the hoped-for buzz about the festival, she said. "It is wonderful to see our followers so excited about the NTTBF. Makes it all worthwhile."

Participating authors have taken note of the library's efforts and seem genuinely pleased. Murphy, author of Side Effects May Vary, said of the preparations, "I think it would be fair to say that IPL has become YA community headquarters for Dallas-Fort Worth. It's the place to be. The library has made a reputation for itself among readers, authors, publishers, and the community. It's time to take things to the next level with the North Texas Teen Book Festival."

As the calendar advances toward March 7, much has been done but more work remains, Treviño said, including the next item on the committee's punch list: planning their author schedule and arranging a Speed Dating with a Book activity. She said the planning committee will meet soon to pound out these and other details over breakfast, staying on for lunch and into dinner, brainstorming, laughing and sharing stories. Hard work, she said, but truly a labor of love. "It's been blood, sweat and a few tears! Literally!" she laughed. "I never knew so much work went into planning festivals, but we are having a blast, building websites, designing publicity and creating a following on social media. We wanted all the elements of the festival to reflect our authenticity and passion for young adult literature. So we did it all from scratch. We are elated to see it all coming together."