By Morgan Pettis | Staff Writer
On Saturday, the Waco Central Library will continue its Author’s Alley series, which showcases new works by local authors.
Author Steven Moss will speak about the book “We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program,” which he co-authored with Richard Paul. Moss is an associate professor of English at Texas State Technical College and specializes in NASA and racial equality during the 1960s.
Author’s Alley is a new addition to the community events offered by the Waco-McLennan County Library. Barbara Frank, the library’s adult and teen services manager, said the library already offers a number of programs for children and teens but wanted to reach other ages as well.
“The library likes to support authors, and this was a way to bring in more adult programming,” Frank said.
Frank runs the Author’s Alley program at the library and aims to continue this into the spring.
Through her work at the library, Frank has been in frequent contact with many local authors about having their books bought by the Waco-McLennan library. This led her to begin Author’s Alley as a way for those authors to talk to the community about their recent work.
“I’ve had the opportunity to get to know many indie and local authors. Why not have them participate in Author’s Alley?” Frank said.
Frank plans to include authors from all around Texas, but mainly she hopes to help local authors in Waco spread the word about their books.
“Local authors need local venues, and the Waco library series is a great way to meet that need,” Moss said. “The Author’s Alley program guarantees a wide spectrum of books, and [for] authors, a wider, more diverse audience can be reached.”
The program includes different genres throughout the season. Last week, the library held a Romance Writers Panel with local authors Linda LaRoque, Golden Keyes Parsons and Becky Wade.
On Oct. 1, Author’s Alley will showcase Dr. John A. Wood, who was a professor emeritus of religion at Baylor and an avid baseball fan. He will be talking about his novel “Beyond the Ballpark,” which looks at the lives of 50 members of baseball’s Hall of Fame.
This fall series of Author’s Alley will be hosted by the Waco Central Library.
“We might soon rotate them between the other four libraries,” Franks said.
The fall series of Author’s Alley has two more programs left: Steven Moss with “We Could Not Fail” at 2 p.m. Saturday, and John A. Wood with “Beyond the Ballpark” at 2 p.m. Oct. 1. Both events are free, and a portion of the proceeds from the books’ sales will go toward the Waco-McLennan County Library.
