First Time Ever: TIL comes to El Paso

El Paso Hosts
Texas Institute of Letters Annual Conference, April 7 & 8

Here at the very edge of Texas, we have this joke.

People ask us, Where are you from?

We say, El Paso.

Oh, they say, you’re from Texas. 

No, we say, we’re from El Paso.

Well, the prestigious TEXAS INSTITUTE OF LETTERS (TIL) wants to put an end to our wise-cracking. For the first time in its 81-year existence, El Paso is hosting the TIL’s Annual Conference and Book Awards. And the TIL is pulling out all the stops with a great series of events and a celebration banquet that features El Paso writers. AND a couple of tunes by 2017 TIL inductee Joe Ely. What? Honky-tonk, Texas-country, Tex-Mex, rock-&-roller Joe Ely? Yep! All this thanks to the hard work and joyful enthusiasm of TIL President Steve Davis, Vice-President Carmen Tafolla and council member, El Paso’s own Sergio Troncoso.

Get Banquet Tickets Here

The El Paso Connection

El Paso writers will be front and center. At the Saturday night banquet, award winning novelist, poet and children’s book author Benjamin Alire Saenz will read; nationally acclaimed poet and children’s book author Pat Mora will receive the Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement at the banquet; and author and anthologist Marcia H. Daudistel will present a short video of El Paso's literary landscape. On Saturday, novelist, poet, journalist C.M. Mayo and novelist / poet Alicia Gaspar de Alba will read at their inductions into the TIL at 1 p.m event. 

Novelist (a Dobie fellow!) and co-publisher of El Paso’s Cinco Puntos Press, Lee Merrill Byrd will read at her induction Friday evening, 7:30 p.m. Poet, essayist and co-publisher of El Paso’s Cinco Puntos Press, Bobby Byrd will read at his induction Friday evening, 7:30 p.m.

Playing for the Devil's Fire Honored by the Texas Institute of Letters

Cinco Puntos author Phillippe Diederich won the 2017 H-E-B Award for Best Young Adult Book for Playing for the Devil's Fire. Phillippe is coming to El Paso to receive his award at the Children Awards on Saturday morning and to attend the banquet.

To honor the arrival of the TIL in El Paso, Cinco Puntos will be open on Friday (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Saturday (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), April 7-8. Cinco Puntos is a pleasant ten-minute walk from the conference (some street construction not withstanding), which will include a peep at the Luis Jimenez alligator sculpture if you go through the beautiful remodeled plaza.

Cinco Puntos Press invites the 300 members of the Texas Institute of Letters to come by for a 50% discount, and invites the rest of El Paso to come through the store and congratulate the Byrds on decades of diverse publishing.

Events to Remember

Saturday, April 8

9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Children's Book Awards in the Sky Lounge at the Downtown Doubletree by Hilton. Reception and breakfast/brunch refreshments, followed by an awards ceremony. Introduction of new TIL members, David Bowles and Elaine Scott. Cinco Puntos Press author Phillippe Diederich will recieve his award for Best Young Adult Fiction. Free and open to the public.

1 p.m. to 3 p.m. New TIL Member Reception and Reading in the Sky Lounge at the Downtown Doubletree by Hilton. Introduction of new TIL members, including El Paso's own Alice Gaspar de Alba and C.M. Mayo, plus Celeste Bedford Walker, Cary Clack, Elizabeth Harris, Cliff Hudder, Baine Kerr and Rosalyn Story. Free and open to the public.

5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Reception followed by 8 p.m. Texas Institute of Letters Banquet at Ardovino's Desert Crossing. TIL President Steve Davis and Vice President Carmen Tafolla serve as hosts and emcees. Special guests: New TIL member Joe Ely, PEN/Faulkner winning author and TIL member Benjamin Alire Saenz. Nationally acclaimed author and El Paso native Pat Mora will receive the Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement. Literary El Paso editor Marcia Hatfield Daudistel will present a video celebrating El Paso's literary ambiente. Plus Stephen Harrigan, Skip Hollandsworth and Paulette Jiles will receive TIL Book Awards. A great evening.

Get Banquet Tickets Here