Former Obama White House Photog Coming To Texas Book Festival

AUSTIN, TX — Texas Book Festival organizers on Monday announced they will be bringing Pete Souza — the chief official White House photographer for President Barack Obam — to town for a talk this fall.

Along with the Long Center for the Performing Arts, the event titled "An Evening with Pete Souza" will be staged as the closing event of the annual festival on Sunday, Oct. 28, officials said. Souza is a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author with publication of his book contrasting the Obama presidency with that of the current administration.

Tickets for Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents, is Souza's new book of photographs contrasting the Trump and Obama administrations, and will be available to the public at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 27, for $39-59. Each ticket includes one copy of the book with a signed book plate and admits one person to the event. Pre-sale tickets are now available for Long Center members and Festival Friends Pass holders.

"Shade is a portrait in contrasts, telling the tale of two presidencies through a series of powerful visual juxtapositions — with Souza’s unforgettable images of President Obama delivering new power and meaning when framed by tweets, headlines, quotes, and other material from the first 500 days of the Trump administration," organizers wrote in describing the new book. 'When Souza left the White House in 2017, he didn’t know what it meant to 'throw shade'—but soon learned he was doing it, by posting photographs on Instagram from the Obama years along with captions that vividly define the contrast between the Obama and Trump administrations."

Tickets to the event at The Long Center are required and are available via The Long Center’s website. Tickets start at $39. Purchasing a ticket reserves one seat at the event and one copy of Souza’s Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents with a signed book plate. A portion of ticket sales supports the Texas Book Festival’s literacy programs and the nonprofit’s mission to inspire Texans of all ages to love reading, organizers noted.

For more information on the Texas Book Festival, please visit www.texasbookfestival.org and follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @texasbookfest.

Pete Souza

WHEN: Sunday, October 28, at 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: The Long Center for the Performing Arts

701 W Riverside Dr., Austin, TX 78704

TICKETS: $39-59

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>>> Courtesy photos from book jacket, including photo of Pete Souza by Patti Lease