Pulitzer Prize-winning broadcaster Maria Hinojosa and three noted children’s authors will be featured at a Texas Book Festival event in El Paso March 24-25.

The Texas Book Festival, which aims to connect authors and readers, is bringing its Reading Rock Stars program to El Paso for the first time. The program promotes literacy among elementary school students.

Children’s authors Rebecca Balcárcel, Zeke Peña, and Raúl the Third will visit Aoy and Hart elementary schools in South El Paso on March 24. Students will get a signed copy of one of the authors’ books.

Peña and Raúl the Third will read from their books and engage with children and their families at a free event from 10-11:30 a.m. March 25 at the El Paso Museum of History, 510 N. Santa Fe St. 

Three noted children’s authors will be in El Paso March 24-25. (Photo courtesy of Texas Book Festival)

Hinojosa, a journalism trailblazer and entrepreneur, will sign copies of her memoir, “Once I Was You,” at 4 p.m. March 24 at the Philanthropy Theatre in the Plaza Theatre, 125 Pioneer Plaza.

She has been a journalist for PBS, CBS, CNN, NPR, and other organizations. In 2010 she founded Futuro Media, a nonprofit organization which produces multimedia programming focused on the growing diversity of the American experience. Hinojosa led a team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting. 

At 5 p.m. at the theater, Hinojosa will talk with El Paso Matters CEO Robert Moore about her life and the importance of having diverse voices telling the most important stories. The event is free, but people planning to attend are asked to register for tickets.

Hinojosa also will appear at a reception at 6:30 p.m. March 24 at the El Paso Community Foundation Room,333 N. Oregon. Tickets for the reception,which will benefit El Paso Matters and the Texas Book Festival,are $100.