As series editor of the O. Henry Awards prize stories collection, it is Laura Furman’s job to read through hundreds of literary magazines with the goal of finding the twenty best stories published in the United States or Canada in a given year. Furman, who teaches graduate and undergraduate writing courses at UT, has taken out her literary gold pan and come up with twenty more excellent tales for The Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories 2010 (Anchor Books). It’s hard to imagine how she sifted through so many undoubtedly great pieces of short fiction to come up with the crème de la crème, but we should all be grateful she did. more ›

Over the past year, the students and faculty of St. Andrew’s high school , located on Southwest Parkway, have seen their campus divided over the content of the English Department’s reading list. This is part 1,208 in our nationwide series entitled “Ignorance & Self-Righteousness, or, America: The Great Leap Backward.” Last fall, Cary McNair – affluent film producer and son of millionaire oilman/Houston Texans owner Robert McNair – pulled his kids and his money... more ›

Because we love our readers, we'll let you know about an upcoming advance screening of Brokeback Mountain (although if you're an AFS member, you already know about it). Based on Annie Proulx's short story, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) who hold a slowburning torch for each other throughout the years. Screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana will be in attendance at this advance screening in our... more ›