Houstonia’s The Must List tells you about something going on in Houston that you absolutely cannot miss.

Houston is a literary city that doesn’t get proper national recognition. It has served as home base for iconic authors like Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Larry McMurtry, Gwendolyn Zepeda, Mat Johnson, Edward Albee, and Katherine Center, and welcomes emerging writers to University of Houston’s celebrated creative writing program. There’s also a healthy appreciation for the local independent bookstore scene, with Brazos Bookstore serving the reading public since 1974. Newcomers like Kindred Stories and Class tap into a heightened need for BIPOC authorship. Basket Books and Art pulls double duty as both a shop and a gallery, and the romance-focused Mossrose helps visitors feel the love.

Inprint, a creative writing nonprofit that welcomes 15,000 bibliophiles to its workshops, classes, and events each year, serves as one of the linchpins of the Houston literary scene. The Margarett Root Brown Reading Series is among its flagship offerings, a long-running event that has brought Pulitzer winners, Booker Prize authors, and MacArthur fellows to town—all for just $5 a ticket.

Since 1980, when UH initially launched the talks as the “Houston Reading Series,” audiences have gotten exactly what’s promised in the name: decorated authors from various geographies and genres coming to Houston for a reading from their latest book, followed by a Q&A, usually moderated by a UH creative writing professor. Depending on the event, the writers may stay afterward for a signing and photo opportunities, with books provided by Brazos or Kindred Stories. Inprint took over the initiative in the 1990s, changing the name to Margarett Root Brown Reading Series after receiving a grant from the Brown Foundation. It wrapped its 44th season this past April.

“We really had this vision of making it a citywide series… At some point, we began selling season tickets,” says Krupa Parikh, deputy director at Inprint. “Once we took over, the Houston Chronicle and all the major publications started running articles about the series, and people really started coming to the events and seeing it as part of the major performing arts season.”

Over its four-decade history, the series has hosted a staggering roster of literary heavyweights. Pulitzer winners like Jhumpa Lahiri, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Tony Kushner, W. S. Merwin, and Richard Powers have graced its stage, along with MacArthur fellows such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jericho Brown (also a UH alumnus). Household names like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Karen Russell, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, and Khaled Hosseini have also packed the house.

“We always strive to have a roster of writers that reflects the great diversity of Houston… In that way, we've been able to feature writers from all over the world. We try to have a mix of styles and genres,” says Inprint executive director Rich Levy. “Josie [Mitchell, Inprint’s communications manager] and I went to New York to visit with 10 different publishers this spring, just to hear what their new books are and share with them what's been going on in the series.”

And with so many writers heading to Houston to share a love of literature over the years, the Inprint team naturally has plenty of stories to tell. Rather than a traditional solo reading, Powers invited his fellow novelist, former neighbor, and dear friend Tayari Jones (2019 Women's Prize for Fiction winner for An American Marriage) to join him on stage for a shared experience that left the audience charmed by their connection. George Saunders requested the service of local actors to perform his works in lieu of a traditional reading, so Inprint enlisted a few Alley Theatre actors to transform his prose into theater. Adichie and Colum McCann appeared together during the winter holidays, reading from and discussing their books Americanah and TransAtlantic, respectively, with Divakaruni hosting. They concluded the evening by singing “Molly Malone” together, on the same stage that had hosted productions of A Christmas Carol earlier that season.

Not every visit necessarily concluded on a lighthearted note. Following the publication of his novel Fury, Rushdie appeared in Houston after a 12-year hiatus from book touring, because of the death sentence (often interchangeably referred to as a “fatwa,” though the Arabic term simply means a ruling by an Islamic judge) issued by then-Supreme Ruler of Iran Ruhollah Khomeini over his novel The Satanic Verses. It was a major moment in the globally popular author’s history; Inprint ended up dealing with what was, for them, an unprecedented crowd at the time. Levy says staff had to turn away hundreds of people at the door because so many Houstonians were excited to listen to the author talk. Around a hundred protesters also turned out with “Death to Rushdie” signs, necessitating additional security.

When the series first launched, the participating authors read to audiences at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Brown Auditorium. But following one of Atwood’s many appearances in the city, the line to get in stretched all the way onto Bissonnet (and this was before The Handmaid’s Tale became a hit TV series). Levy chuckles over how then-MFAH director Peter Marzio “wasn’t so happy about it.” The readings ultimately settled at the Wortham Center in downtown Houston, though occasionally writers will speak at other locations like Texas Southern University.

It's not just the names that make the Margarett Root Brown Reading Series attract anywhere from 200 to 2,200 bibliophiles per event; it’s the affordability, too. Tickets remain free for students and seniors. Everyone else pays only $5. Prices haven’t changed since the Houston Reading Series days, thanks to generous grants and donations, and Inprint’s staff has always insisted on keeping it that way. A lower barrier to entry means more Houstonians get exposed to critical perspectives, politics, and experiences that shape the world.

“We want everybody to come out,” Parikh says. “We want it to feel like a space for connection and a space where people can really celebrate stories and be together.”

Inprint has yet to reveal the lineup for its 45th season, which will run from fall 2025 until spring 2026, but they have a few teasers for local lit fans. Adichie returns to kick off the series with a reading from her fourth novel, Dream Count, concerning four Nigerian women grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue is scheduled to visit in March 2026, with Life of Pi phenom Yann Martel following in April. But one of the most anticipated invitees doesn’t have to travel very far to grace the stage.

Rice University faculty member Bryan Washington, the George Guion Williams Writer in Residence and Scholar in Residence for Racial Justice, will make his Margarett Root Brown Reading Series debut. A Katy native, Washington’s most recent novel, Memorial, revolves around what Mitchell refers to as a “triangulation of space and identity” that is “a hallmark of Houston.”

“We’re talking about having Houston be this literary destination, and how much of a literary art scene is here,” she says. “Bryan Washington is a really great example of that, because he champions the city.”