Veteran Reading Program Launches with Author Ben Fountain

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The Texas Center for the Book, the Texas Veterans Commission, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and the Friends of Libraries and Archives of Texas will welcome best-selling author Ben Fountain on Feb. 23 at 7:00pm for a discussion on his critically acclaimed work, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. The program launches Read Across Texas: The Veteran Experience, a statewide reading program designed to bring communities together and engage in the tough but important conversations through literature. This year, the focus of the reading experience and dialogue is on the issues surrounding the men and women who served the country and what happens when they return home.

The novel was selected as a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award and most recently was made into a motion picture in 2016. A razor-sharp satire set in Texas during America's war in Iraq, it explores the gaping national disconnect between the war at home and the war abroad. Ben Fountain’s debut novel follows the surviving members of the heroic Bravo Squad.

KUT’s Morning Edition Host Jennifer Stayton will join Fountain for the discussion, which will be held at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission Lorenzo de Zavala Building. The panel will also include commentary from Bryce Dubee, Public Affairs Officer, Texas Veterans Commission. The event is open to the public and is made possible through the support of the Edouard Foundation and the Friends of Libraries and Archives of Texas.

The Texas Center for the Book, established in 1987, seeks to stimulate public interest in books, reading, literacy, and libraries. The Center builds partnerships with library professionals, educators, authors, publishers, and booksellers who work to promote a love of literature. One of 50 state centers affiliated with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Texas Center for the Book is under the direction of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

For more information visit www.tsl.texas.gov/readacrosstexas