Texas Border Business
The 2019 Border Book Bash which featured several authors was held on October 12 at Biblioteca Las Americas in Mercedes, Texas. Every year, Mission High School, takes a bus full of students to the festival so they may gain insight from a variety of authors.
This event was first organized by Margie Longoria, librarian, at Mission High School. It has been impacting the whole RGV community for several years. The festival has been hosted at different schools around the Valley to reach readers in different areas. Margie has collaborated with librarians from many districts and has networked with many authors.
The first Border Book Bash was held at Alton Memorial Junior High in 2016. The festival has always had a diverse group of authors such as Newbery Award Winner Meg Medina, Pura BelPre Award Winners Pablo Cartaya, and Guadalupe Garcia McCall. A few Best-Selling Authors such as Simone Elkeles and Benjamin Alire Saenz to name a few.
The festival strives to bring a colorful cast of Teen and Tween authors who are both traditional and self-published in addition to focusing on local talent. It is important for the students of the RGV to see local writers such as Valley native David Bowles, who has attended the event for four years, succeed in publishing and that they can too.
