Yoakum library hosts an evening with the authors

Those who appreciate getting to know the people behind the words they read won’t want to miss this special evening with the authors planned 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, at the City of Yoakum’s Carl & Mary Welhausen Library that’s been billed an evening of “Interesting People with an Incredible talent.”

Five local authors were invited to attend this unique literary event, where you’ll be able to hear from each as they take part in a panel discussion about publishing and their own unique publishing journeys, check out and even purchase some of their many creative works, get personalized signed copies of their latest works, meet and network with fellow readers and aspiring writers while enjoying a few Hors d’oeuvres and spend some time getting to know these talented writers.  

They include:

• A Corpus Christi native who now calls Ingram home, Cindy Bonner has several titles to her credit, including five award-winning historical novels published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

Bonner’s books are known to break a few stereotypes as she weaves her tales—it’s why none of the gunmen in her fictional shoot-outs are very good shots, and soldiers are more likely to drive a supply truck than a tank—but her true heroes in many of her stories are the many strong, spirited and capable women of their respective eras, who much like those shoddy-shot gunmen and truck driving GIs likely offer a truer version of how it really was for many, all are faithful to their time in history and their station. 

• Sally Lake Dolejsi spent 20-plus years living overseas and more than three decades working in the aviation industry with Lockheed Martin, all while filling free time pursuing her many other interests, like travel, photography and writing.
She now lives near Yoakum and was the author behind Archway Publishing’s 2021 release of The Wind, the Flowers, the Bamboos: A Story of Friendship, featuring illustrations by artist Karla Browder-Little. 

• Tamara H. Hartl was born and raised in Floyd, Virginia, deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and moved to Texas while working for an Arabian horse farm. Hartl now works for Circle Y Saddles in Yoakum, plus she’s also the author of the three-book Knights of Kismera fantasy series published by Dragon Mountain Press.

• Many will search and search and still struggle to find their God-given purpose because of the many roadblocks that life has a tendency of throwing in your path. Matthew Lemke knew that struggle all too well, and his declining health and a harrowing brain disorder would make his search even more difficult. 

But little did Lemke know that God had a huge plan for his life, and he chronicles that journey in his self-published 2021 autobiographical works, Faith Over Fear and Chronic Faith. Crafting those books helped lead Lemke to a more traditional publishing route for his third offering, an illustrated children’s book he called Monster Under My Bed, published by Outskirts Press early last year.  

• As Bobby Horecka inches ever closer to his fourth decade in the news business, even he can’t believe he’s spent that long chasing stories on deadline, or that doing so might carry him clear across Texas, our country, and 12 other nations besides, all to bring him right back to where he started from. 

But before he ever saw his first byline in a newsstand, Horecka probably built hundreds of them—newsstands, that is—just up the road in nearby Shiner as a machinist at Kaspar’s. Safe to say, Horecka’s path into newspapers was anything but ordinary. While he threatened to write a book about it all one day, there’s one sure fact you learn quick as a newsman. That is, you can write near constantly, if you’re worth your salt, and every word somehow belongs to another person’s story. You never get time to tell any of your own. 

Luckily, we suppose, the bottom fell smooth off the entire news industry not long after. So, back to the drawing board, as they say.

Rather than doodle it up, Horecka found his way into a Master of Fine Arts creative writing program—a degree that took him 20 long years, believe it or not—that’s how long it took him, at very least. But it also required him to write that book he always said he would. If he wanted that degree, he would, anyway.

So, he opted for short stories. Then, as soon as he “finished” one, he’d send it off to get published. Five bajillion rejection letters and a heap of healthy rewrites later, he found homes for nearly every story that appeared in his first collection at various literary magazines across the country. 

That exposure ultimately led to a book deal, and in March 2020, Horecka’s first work of fiction, Long Gone & Lost: True Fictions and Oth-er Lies, became a reality with Texas literary nonprofit Madville Publishing. It came out alongside another Madville title called Runaway: An Anthology, which featured a Bobby story. Later, Long Gone & Lost even got picked as a finalist for a statewide book award.

All just in time for a pandemic. 

Didn’t somebody just say some-thing about a drawing board? Yet, if it weren’t for drawing boards, Horecka would likely still be chucking out newsstands every night. Or bum-pers. Or something.

If you’re new to the Yoakum library, you’re in for a treat. Built inside the old city power plant, it’s got just enough retro-industrial strappings to make for conversation but not too much to look cluttered. Rates it among our Top 10 favorite repurposed places (for those we laid eyes on, at least). It’s located at 810 Front St. in Yoakum.

Please dial (361) 293-5001 for more information. Otherwise, see you there!