A Call to Action in Texas
The TEXAS chapter of WDA is a collaboration of writers, readers, editors, and booksellers, standing together to champion democracy everywhere, and the institutions that embody and protect it. We defend civil liberties: the right to vote and have our votes counted, to gather and protest, to write and read, and to access learning that informs and enriches the lives of citizens. We battle censorship in all its guises. A nation can only be strong if it invites a multitude of perspectives into its decision-making process, educates its citizens, and treats the least of them as equal in value to its most powerful.
Please join us for a DEMOCRACY BOOK CLUB conversation!
Seeking Sanctuary: Refugees, Migrants, Immigrants and the Protection of Human Rights
Sunday, March 30, 4:00pm ET / 3:00pm CT
REGISTER HERE
SOPHIA BALAKIAN
Author of Unsettled Families
&
STEPHANIE ELIZONDO GRIEST
Author of All the Agents and Saints
Moderated by Robin Davidson & in conversation with
FRANCES DE PONTES PEEBLES
Chair of the Board of Directors, The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
With warmest thanks to our host, Books & Books!
See more information here.
With thanks to The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights!
Texas Writers. . .
Consider writing an OpEd for one of our state’s prominent online or print publications!
See The OpEd Project guidelines here.
In the News . . .
Converse-Sations:
A Voter Recruitment & Preparation Project
Andrea Vocab Sanderson, San Antonio’s 2020 - 2023 Poet Laureate, hosted a political art installation called Converse-Sations that included presentations by Deputy Voter Registrars, poetry readings, and a townhall discussion to help recruit voters and ensure their voting readiness! Warmest thanks to Centro San Antonio for funding this event.
Democracy Book Club
ON CORRUPTION IN AMERICA — AND WHAT IS AT STAKE
Sarah Chayes & John Passacantando
May 31, 2024
“My favorite book of the twenty-first century on political corruption.”
—United States Representative Jamie Raskin
Our Partners
Writers for Democratic Action is able to do the work we do because of our partners—the independent bookstores, libraries, and literary organizations who offer so much support, community, solidarity, information, and free expression to all of us. Please show up at one of our partner bookstores or libraries for conversations, readings, books, voter registration drives, and comradery. Thank you to our TEXAS partners:
Participating Bookstores
Aunt Eek’s Books & Curiosities (Amarillo)
Black Pearl Books (Austin)
BookPeople (Austin)
BookWoman (Austin)
Brazos Bookstore (Houston)
Curio Mvrosa Bookshop (Taylor)
Deep Vellum Books (Dallas)
Interabang Books (Dallas)
Katy Budget Books (Katy)
Malvern Books (Austin)
Nowhere Bookshop (San Antonio)
Patchouli Joe's Books & Indulgences (Denton)
The Wild Detectives (Dallas)
Democracy Table at Malvern Books in Austin
Democracy Table at Brazos Bookstore in Houston
Past TEXAS Events
Banned Book Fair
March 13, 2024 / 5:00 - 7:00pm CT
San Antonio, Texas
with former San Antonio Poet Laureate
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson
Houston Bookstore Crawl
April 5 - 30, 2024
Houston bookstores rally during the month of April in celebration of National Poetry Month and Texans’ Right to Read!
The Democracy Book Club in collaboration with Book & Books and BookPeople of Austin present. . .
With thanks to Book People of Austin . . .
Stephen Vladeck
& THE SHADOW DOCKET
Thursday, May 25, 2023 7pm CT
An in person event at 603 N. Lamar Blvd, Austin
With thanks to Brazos Bookstore of Houston. . .
Mary Beth Rogers
in conversation with Joe Holley discussing
HOPE AND HARD TRUTH
Tuesday, September 20, 2023 6:30pm CT
An in person event at 2421 Bissonnet St, Houston
Mary Beth Rogers in conversation with Joe Holley
Houston’s Brazos Bookstore hosted Mary Beth Rogers, former deputy treasurer of Texas, and campaign manager and chief of staff for Governor Ann Richards, in conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Joe Holley, columnist for the Houston Chronicle since 2013, contributor to Texas Monthly, and staff writer for The Washington Post, to celebrate the release of her newest book, Hope and Hard Truth: A Life in Texas Politics (UT Press).
Mary Beth Rogers with Robin Davidson
“There is a difference between optimism and hope. I am not optimistic, I am hopeful, because hope involves a leap of imagination that energizes us, propels us into action. Be hopeful!” Mary Beth Rogers
Texas Steering Committee
Robin Davidson, Chair
Cyrus Cassells
Bret Anthony Johnston
Jasminne Méndez
Lupe Méndez
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton
Emmy Pérez
Kevin Prufer
Andrea Vocab Sanderson
Carmen Tafolla
Roberto Tejada
Edward Vidaurre
