SAN ANTONIO – Former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg is among the featured authors at Saturday’s San Antonio Book Festival.
Nirenberg is scheduled to discuss a new memoir that recounts his life, his family and his time leading San Antonio through some of its most contentious and consequential moments.
Nirenberg’s book reflects on personal loss, including the deaths of his mother and his infant daughter, Sofia. It also frames his public service through what he described as political “flash points” that helped shape his approach in office. Those moments include a debate over an Amazon warehouse agreement, the city’s efforts surrounding a Republican National Convention bid, a dispute over a Chick-fil-A restaurant at the San Antonio International Airport and early efforts tied to Project Marvel.
“History has proven us right more often than not,” Nirenberg said, adding that he wanted to provide context — and at times humor — beyond “the black and white political discourse.”
He said the memoir began as a letter to his wife and son to express gratitude, but “turned into a love letter not only to them, but to our entire city.”
The memoir also revisits campaign battles and political clashes with fellow San Antonio politicians, including Greg Brockhouse and Ivy Taylor. Nirenberg said he wanted to provide context for issues “that people probably have heard about, but maybe not have gotten a complete 360-degree view of.”
Nirenberg also recounts leading the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 protests after George Floyd’s killing and the 2021 Texas winter storm. On the pandemic, he said he wanted to revisit the uncertainty of the early days.
“There are a lot of things that have come out of this that have made us on a better footing, but I wanted to recall those moments in the heat of it where we really didn’t know what was gonna happen, how lethal this virus was,” he said.
Nirenberg said that city leaders emphasized unity and clear communication during a period he described as politically fraught.
“We wanted to show unity. We wanted it to be transparent. We wanted to give people consistent information,” Nirenberg said, in part. “In this sea of chaos between the federal and state government, and people just sort of making it a political issue.”
On the 2021 winter storm, Nirenberg said local officials worked to respond while pressing state leaders to address problems with the power grid.
“It was a mess. We called together an emergency preparedness effort to shore up the things we could do locally,” he said. “We’ve done that. And we continue to call on state leaders to address the fundamental root causes of what happened with the grid during Winter Storm Uri.”
“We’ve got to have people recognize that the job is not over and we need state leaders to step up to fix the grid,” Nirenberg said.
Nirenberg said he saw public safety as more than policing alone during the protests in San Antonio after Floyd’s death.
“We recognize here that in order to have a safe community, we have to fund law enforcement and we continue to do that,” the former mayor said. “But we also have to find a quality community that people can thrive in.”
Nirenberg said writing about his mother was essential to the story he was trying to tell.
“Her life was bookends to the story I was recounting and what she meant to me in the moments I got to spend with her in those final days,” he said. “And, you know, she is why I’m here.”
Nirenberg credited his mother for shaping the intensity he brings to public service.
“If anyone has observed me over the last few years, it’s that I’m very passionate about what I do,” he said. “I’m passionate about this community. I want to do well for it, but the work becomes part of you. And I very much got that from my mom.”
The memoir also touches on Nirenberg’s interests outside politics, including music and his time as a program director at Trinity University’s radio station. He singled out jazz as a defining art form.
“Jazz in particular is one of America’s three greatest exports, also including democracy and baseball,” he said.
Nirenberg said he hopes readers see how the city’s culture shaped him, including its arts community.
“I wanted to bring the arts community together to celebrate itself, through the language of jazz,” he said. “And that gave me a deeper appreciation of this city, because you can really see the diversity of it celebrated through jazz.”
Nirenberg is scheduled to appear with his co-author in a festival panel discussion at 3 p.m. Saturday. Organizers say dozens of authors will take part in this year’s event.
He is also running for Bexar County judge. His opponent, Patrick Von Dohlen, did not respond to a request for comment about the memoir.