Texas Book Festival returns as book bans remain controversial

AUSTIN, Texas - The annual Texas Book Festival returned to downtown Austin this weekend. It’s safe to say Congress Avenue was ‘booked.’

Tens of thousands of readers shop the tents every year, like Asher Elbein.

"It's really nice that that's something that can shut down the busy drag in the city just to be about books and the people who love them," said Elbein.

Dewi Azizah and her fiancé Asher came to support a specific author.

"This is Hanif Abdurraqib," said Azizah. "He's my favorite writer."

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Like so many others, they're walking away with their hands full.

"It's always fun to just kind of like walk around, looking for some books and suddenly 'okay, great, I spend 100 dollars,' but still kind of like nice," said Azizah.

Others, like Conrad Bibens, are first-time authors.

"Just seeing all the different people, there's just so many good books, I can't buy them all, I can't read them all but it sure is nice to look at them," said Bibens, author of "The Best General In The Civil War."

About 300 other writers and a handful of publishers attended this year's Texas Book Festival.

"Having these stories, people have great stories to tell, readers connect with them in ways you don't always anticipate, and so that's important," said Loren Steffy with Stony Creek Publishing. "I think LeVar Burton said not every book is for everybody, but there is some book for everybody and it's really true."

The event comes as book bans become more common and controversial.

Just this year, Lake Travis ISD removed one book from its shelves deeming it inappropriate. In Llano County, federal judges ruled that 8 out of 17 banned books must be returned to the library.

Back at Congress Avenue, many bookworms tell FOX 7 Austin that every time the Texas Book Festival returns for a new chapter, it's always refreshing.

"Books is a sort of lived experience, a lived thing that you engage with as opposed to a sort of a plastic wrap thing that you sort of buy off the shelf, and that's really lovely, and if it weren't here I think we would really miss it," said Elbein.

The Texas Book Festival does a lot of other work throughout the year to donate books to Title 1 schools and raise money for public libraries.