Aaron Hierholzer was kind enough to send us some photos from last weekend's Texas Book Festival in Austin, where Christopher Buckley was one of the dozens of authors who came to discuss their work and meet fans. Of course, Buckley wound up talking quite a bit about his sudden departure from the National Review, the magazine his father founded, after his endorsement of Barack Obama last month; at one point, interviewer Steven Isenberg asked if he secretly yearned for the sheer comic potential of a McCain/Palin administration, and he conceded that Obama would be a "challenge to the satirist." But Buckley also warned against underestimating the humor inherent in gaffe-magnet Joe Biden, on whom a character in his latest novel, Supreme Courtship, is based.

The other highlights of Aaron's weekend included a conversation between Richard Price and Philip Gourevitch, and a panel where Daniel Wallace and Ann Packer talked about how writers approach reading (and readers).

Meanwhile, novelist Will Clarke was hanging out in the green room, where he snapped pics of fellow festival guests Jerome Weeks and Sarah Bird (How Perfect Is That?), Hooman Mjad (The Ayatollah Begs to Differ), and Jeff Martin (The Customer Is Always Wrong).

Oh, and Rusty Shelton filled us in on the Writers League of Texas awards ceremony, where Margo Rabb's Cures for Heartbreak won the Teddy Children's Book Award; while Marcia Kaylakie (Texas Quilts and Quilters: A Lone Star Legacy) and Rilla Askew (Harpsong) received Violet Crown Awards for nonfiction and fiction, respectively.