Austin's downtown Central Library is trading its usual hush for cosplay contests, tabletop gaming, and a chainmail-making station this Saturday, as the Austin Public Library debuts CABAM! Con, a free all-ages convention devoted to comics, anime, books, art, movies and more. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on September 12 and marks the library system's first-ever takeover of the six-story downtown flagship for a single themed celebration.
Baylor Johnson, an Austin Public Library representative, described the scale of the ambition to CBS Austin, calling CABAM! Con the library's first-ever takeover of the Central Library for a celebration of comics, pop culture, anime, characters, heroes, stories and fandoms. Johnson said the goal is to bring fandom-related programming together in one space as a free event for all ages, according to the same report.
The convention leans on infrastructure the library already has in place. Its foley demonstrations and voice-dubbing activities take place in the Central Library's Innovation Lab, a permanent public maker space equipped for audio production and digital design, per Explore ATX. That lab typically gives the public free access to production tools and software year-round, not just during special events.
Cosplay, Crafts, and Comics Fill the Building
Attendees can expect trivia for all ages, drop-in Dungeons & Dragons, live gaming for teens, and themed crafts and art classes, per the CBS Austin report. There's also chainmail-making instruction, pop-up photo booths staffed by professional photographers taking cosplay portraits, and a cosplay swap that lets fans trade pieces from past costumes. Pop-ups from local comic book shops and bookstores round out the vendor floor.
Cosplay is encouraged throughout the event, and the convention is billed as open to the whole community rather than limited to any single fandom. Johnson said the hope is that people who show up for the pop culture programming discover the public library as a resource for their broader interests, the outlet reported.
A Sneak Peek Ahead of a State Theatre World Premiere
Among the convention's marquee offerings is a sneak preview of Treasure Island Reimagined, described as a live-action graphic novel show heading to the State Theatre. The production, created and directed by Austin theater artist Jason Neulander, is set to make its world premiere at the historic venue on September 18 before launching a 19-city national tour, according to CTX Live Theatre. The adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic reimagines the story with a female protagonist inspired by Neulander's daughter. The State Theatre is managed alongside the adjacent Paramount Theatre by the Austin Theatre Alliance, per the Paramount Theatre's own account.
CABAM! Con lands during a milestone year for the library system. 2026 marks the Austin Public Library's Centennial, a hundred years after it opened its first temporary location on Congress Avenue in February 1926 with just 500 donated books, according to the library's own history. What began as a volunteer project organized by the American Association of University Women has grown into a system that today includes the Central Library, the Austin History Center, 20 neighborhood branches, and the Recycled Reads bookstore, serving roughly a million Austin-area residents.
New Leadership, Youth-Focused Priorities
The convention also reflects priorities set by Hannah Terrell, who was appointed the Austin Public Library's permanent Director of Libraries in December 2025 after serving as interim director. Terrell has emphasized expanding youth and teen programming, and now leads a system of nearly 500 employees across 22 facilities, per the library's announcement of her appointment.
The Central Library itself, a six-story, 200,000-square-foot building, opened in October 2017 following a $125 million construction project funded largely through a 2006 voter-approved municipal bond, replacing the smaller Faulk Central Library, according to KVUE. The building includes a rooftop garden, a performance hall, and an art gallery, giving CABAM! Con plenty of room to spread its programming across multiple floors.
Regular library patrons will find some familiar touches folded into the convention, since Austin Public Library already runs anime and manga events for teens and hosts graphic novel book clubs throughout the year. Access to those programs, along with the broader Central Library, has expanded in recent years: in March 2024, the Austin City Council eliminated the $120 annual non-resident card fee for residents living in the city's Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, opening free access to library events and digital collections for thousands of nearby suburban residents, as Hoodline reported at the time.
The library's downtown hub has also been at the center of broader civic debate this year. Last month, Austin city leaders gathered at the Central Library as the Austin City Council prepared to vote on declaring Austin a Book Safe Harbor, a measure aimed at protecting library collections and intellectual freedom from state-level censorship efforts, initiated by Authors Against Book Bans and recommended by the Austin Library Commission. That gathering underscored the Central Library's role as more than a place to check out books — a role CABAM! Con extends into pop-culture territory this weekend.
