Books
October 8, 2020
MacArthur Fellow Cristina Rivera Garza Believes That Writing Is an Act of Hope
The Houston author, who blurs boundaries of genre, language, and culture, says she writes in part to imagine a better world.
Books
Reviews, profiles, and interviews that capture the diverse voices adding to Texas’s rich literary tradition
Arts & Entertainment
October 7, 2020
‘News of the World,’ Tom Hanks’s First Western, Is the Perfect Role for ‘America’s Dad’
The film adaptation of Utopia author Paulette Jiles’s acclaimed novel finds Hanks shepherding a young girl across 1870s Texas.
Arts & Entertainment
September 28, 2020
‘Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back’ Is an Ethical Guide for Fans
Authors Jessica Luther and Kavitha A. Davidson say it's time for sports fans to grapple with the industry's systemic injustices.
Books
September 20, 2020
Remembering Jan Reid, Distinctive Voice in Texas Letters
The longtime Texas Monthly contributor introduced the Austin music scene to the rest of the world.
Books
September 17, 2020
A North Texas Teacher Wanted a Superhero His Latino Students Could Relate to, so He Created One
Hector Rodriguez’s hit comic book series, El Peso Hero, is now set to become a film.
Books
September 16, 2020
The Late, Great Bud Shrake’s Last, Great Novel
The funny and brutal ‘Hollywood Mad Dogs’ was inspired by the Texas writer's experience working in Hollywood with the legendary—and very demanding—Steve McQueen.
Books
August 21, 2020
Texas Monthly Recommends: UT’s Summer Reading List
Plus: a free fridge project in Austin, novels by Jennifer duBois, and Garden Marcus’s soothing TikToks.
Books
August 19, 2020
Vivian Stephens Helped Turn Romance Writing Into a Billion-Dollar Industry. Then She Got Pushed Out.
Now, as the Romance Writers of America reckons with its history of racism, will she finally get her due?
The National Podcast of Texas
August 14, 2020
Paul Begala Wrote the Book on Defeating Donald Trump
On The National Podcast of Texas, the legendary Democratic strategist on whether Texas is swingable and what it’ll take for Joe Biden to win.
Arts & Entertainment
July 31, 2020
Hollywood, Texas: Matthew McConaughey All Writes, All Writes, All Writes a Book
Plus, William Jackson Harper of “The Good Place” gets an Emmy nod, Joe Rogan is moving to Texas, and Miranda Lambert is number one again.
Books
July 24, 2020
Texas Monthly Recommends: Larry McMurtry’s ‘Texasville’
Plus, a podcast hosted by a UT alum and native North Texan, a restaurant with the best banh mi in Dallas, and a show about Austin’s roller derby scene.
Being Texan
July 22, 2020
Meet the Unruly Clan That Once Ruled the Hill Country
Living hard and free, cedar choppers clashed with respectable townsfolk in the mid-20th century.
Arts & Entertainment
July 21, 2020
With Her New Book, a Texas Author Wants You to Take Boy Bands Seriously
Music journalist Maria Sherman discusses why she wrote 'Larger Than Life,' her exhaustive guide to an enduring cultural phenomenon.
Arts & Entertainment
July 2, 2020
A Guide to Living Decadently Without Alcohol
In their new book, ‘The Sober Lush,' Austin writers Amanda Eyre Ward and Jardine Libaire offer a booze-free road map to a rich, full lifestyle.
Books
June 23, 2020
In Her Poetry, Mónica Teresa Ortiz Immortalizes the Act of Remembering
The queer Texan writer's verses speak to the idea that because there is violence and injustice there is also beauty, love, and living to be done.
Books
June 18, 2020
Will Dystopian Times Inspire Utopian Art?
Texas science fiction authors Nicky Drayden and Christopher Brown contemplate the future of writing about the future.
Books
June 16, 2020
Is Houston a Prophetic City? Or a Pathetic City?
Rice sociologist Stephen Klineberg’s portrait of Houston focuses on the busts, not the booms—and still remains optimistic.
Books
May 20, 2020
What to Read Now
Stuck at home? Run out of shows to binge-watch? We have a few suggestions.
Books
May 20, 2020
‘Valentine’ Writer Elizabeth Wetmore’s Texas Roots
The best-selling debut author remembers the Permian Basin home she fled as soon as she could.
Arts & Entertainment
May 20, 2020
The Secret History of the Texas Rangers
‘Cult of Glory' upends decades of mythmaking.
Books
May 20, 2020
How ‘Passage’ Author Justin Cronin Became a Lifelong Catastrophist
Decades of reading about the apocalypse led to the creation of his own series of pandemic novels. Lately, he's been wishing real life didn’t track fiction so closely.
Arts & Entertainment
May 20, 2020
Go-Go’s Bassist Kathy Valentine Remembers the Sounds of 1970s Austin
The Texas native's new memoir offers plenty to listen to.
Arts & Entertainment
May 1, 2020
Lawrence Wright on the Politics of the Pandemic
The Austin author says he wrote his new pandemic thriller as a "cry of warning," but he never expected it to be released during an eerily similar crisis.
Books
April 23, 2020
Texas Monthly Bedtime Stories
Stressed? Can’t sleep? Curl up at home and let our writers help you escape into a great story.
Arts & Entertainment
April 15, 2020
How to Hunker Down Like a Texan
A guide to catching up on great culture from around the state while you’re holed up in isolation.
Books
April 14, 2020
I Love Paulette Jiles’s Novels. So Why Won’t She Talk to Me?
My up and down encounters with the brilliant, beloved, and very grouchy western novelist.
Books
April 7, 2020
A Bookstore That Closed During the Pandemic Started a Literature Hotline. Now People Are Calling in for Life Advice.
Deep Vellum Books’s help line is about literature—but also life advice, horoscopes, and tough conversations.
Arts & Entertainment
April 3, 2020
Texas Monthly Recommends: E-books From Your Public Library
Plus, a debut album by Texas duo Broken Revival, the television show ’Kidding,’ and to-go margaritas.
Books
March 24, 2020
The Seminal Novel About the 1918 Flu Pandemic Was Written by a Texan
Katherine Anne Porter’s ‘Pale Horse, Pale Rider’ tells the tale of a pandemic she barely survived.
Books
March 20, 2020
Texas Monthly Recommends: ‘Copper Stain: ASARCO’s Legacy in El Paso’
Plus, the cheesiest small business in Austin, a nature preserve on the outskirts of Dallas County, and a viral dance challenge.
Arts & Entertainment
March 18, 2020
How Nineteenth-Century Texas Created American Liberalism
After the Civil War, a group of politicians fought—and failed—to empower everyday Texans. But we can see their influence in the New Deal, the Great Society, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders.
Food & Drink
March 16, 2020
Let Joe Yonan Show You What to Do With All of Those Beans
In his new cookbook, ‘Cool Beans,' the San Angelo native and Washington Post food editor explores all things legume, including a version of his mom's Texas Salad.
Books
March 6, 2020
Excerpt: ‘Sutherland Springs: God, Guns, and Hope in a Small Texas Town,’ by Joe Holley
In an exclusive first look at his new book, journalist Joe Holley revisits the terrible morning when mayhem descended on a rural Texas church.
Arts & Entertainment
February 19, 2020
Gorgeous Photos of Texas Punk’s Glory Days
Celebrating the era when the Big Boys and Butthole Surfers made music that was loud and fast and dangerous.
The National Podcast of Texas
February 18, 2020
Daina Ramey Berry on the Courageous and Complex Contributions of Black Women
On the National Podcast of Texas, the coauthor of ‘A Black Women’s History of the United States’ lays out the ways black women transformed America.
Arts & Entertainment
February 15, 2020
The Dallas Gym That Time Forgot
In 2018, the cavernous, old-school Doug's Gym closed after 55 years in business. A new book of photos recaptures the space in all its gritty, unchanging glory.
The National Podcast of Texas
February 11, 2020
Kate Murphy on the Lost Art of Listening
On the National Podcast of Texas, the author of 'You’re Not Listening' argues that by tuning each other out, we’re only hurting ourselves.
The National Podcast of Texas
February 4, 2020
Michael Lind on Class Warfare and Why Populism Can’t Last
On this week’s podcast, the author and LBJ School of Public Affairs professor lays out an admittedly controversial plan to redefine democracy.
Arts & Entertainment
January 24, 2020
Texas Monthly Recommends: ‘I Want More’ by Kaleo
Plus, a Dallas Museum of Art exhibit, ‘Just Mercy,’ and Bryan Washington’s latest short story.
Books
January 22, 2020
Michael Lind Wants to Put America Back Together
The author and UT professor believes our country is falling apart—and he has a plan to fix it.
Books
January 22, 2020
A Ross Thomas Adaptation Rethinks the Border Noir
'Briarpatch,' a new show on USA Network, portrays a West Texas rarely seen on TV.
The National Podcast of Texas
January 21, 2020
The Defined Dish’s Alex Snodgrass and the Pursuit of a Healthier King Ranch Casserole
On this week’s podcast, the New York Times best-selling author on how Texans cook and diet differently.
Arts & Entertainment
January 14, 2020
Gibby Haynes on His Wild YA Debut Novel, ‘Me & Mr. Cigar’
The Butthole Surfers frontman’s book is a profane, hilarious, Texas-set romp.
The National Podcast of Texas
January 13, 2020
Thor in West Texas? Marvel Comics Phenom Donny Cates on His Secret Plan to Relocate the God of Thunder
On the National Podcast of Texas, the “Bad Boy of Comics” on his rise from comic shop manager to writing some of Marvel’s biggest titles.
Arts & Entertainment
January 10, 2020
Texas Monthly Recommends: A UNT Alum’s National Book Award-Winning Memoir ‘The Yellow House’
Plus, the best contestant on Netflix’s reality show ’The Circle’ and Megan Thee Stallion and Normani's new collaboration.
The National Podcast of Texas
January 6, 2020
A Dozen Memorable Moments From the ‘National Podcast of Texas’ in 2019
Some of our favorite conversations from our second season, featuring Willie Nelson, Ted Cruz, and Brooklyn Decker.
Books
January 2, 2020
Tim O’Brien’s ‘Dad’s Maybe Book’ Is a Love Letter to His Sons, 15 Years in the Making
The renowned author and Texas State professor’s latest work is about parenthood, but eschews the typical advice model.
The National Podcast of Texas
December 19, 2019
Aarón Sánchez: “You Can Instantly Judge a Mexican Restaurant on Three Things: Tortillas, Margaritas, Guacamole.”
On the National Podcast of Texas, the El Paso native and celebrity chef on the tradition and future of Mexican food, immigration, and #metoo.
Books
December 17, 2019
Texas Authors on Their Favorite Books of 2019
From family drama to historical fiction to young adult novels, Texas authors recommend something for everyone.