Texas Book Festival: Evan Handler

Today and tomorrow, I'm attending the Texas Book Festival in Austin. This afternoon, I attended a panel discussion with three young adult book authors and one illustrator. I went to the book tent afterward and bought one of their books, A Thousand Never Evers by Austin writer Shana Burg. She was a sixth-grade teacher when she decided to start writing, and now does it full-time. When I told her I was a teacher wanting to do the same thing, she was very encouraging and told me I ought to come to the next meeting of the Austin Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, which I hope to attend.

Tonight, at the Dell Jewish Community Center, I listened to, bought the book of, and met Evan Handler, best known as Harry Goldenblatt on Sex and the City. He was very funny, and I'm looking forward to reading the book, It's Only Temporary: The Good News and Bad News of Being Alive, which is the story of his battle with acute myeloid leukemia and his life in the two decades since. The first few pages--his experiences in a New York cancer ward--put my Hungarian hospital stories to shame, I must tell you.