Results tagged “michenercenter”

James Hannaham’s God Says No is narrated by the book’s primary character: Gary Gray, a sweet overweight black Christian who loves God, Disney Land, and sweets. He has one big problem, though: a nagging sexual attraction to men. Convinced that his deeply buried homosexuality will condemn him to eternal hellfire, Gary embarks on a quest to convince himself and everyone around him that he is indeed a normal guy, 100% straight.

Short-story master William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) is remembered for his twist endings. Each year, twenty stories published in the US or Canada receive the prestigious award that bears his name. Editor Laura Furman, a professor at UT’s Michener center and founder of Austin-based lit mag American Short Fiction, had the onerous task of sorting through heaps of submissions for inclusion in The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009.

The Utter Reading Series is back tomorrow, with more pathos than Hillary, more transcendance than Barack, more grit than McCain, and more exposure (for local writers) than a bead-strewn balcony on Bourbon Street. As always, the reading is free and open to the public, and the audience is invited to join the readers afterwards for drinks and conversation at Opal Divine's on 6th.

Photo from Soundcheck Magazine Austin's 2nd Annual Green Holiday Festival, "The Sustainable Shopper's Ball!", returns to the Sunset Valley Farmers Market with over 60 local vendors and educators offering everything from bamboo homewares to luxury organic linens SXSW Film Festival Producer Matt Dentler shares some insider tips on what the film programming team is looking for - "Should you spend money on a fancy press kit? Should you check your DVD screener 4 different times...

Photo by johnkoetsier on flickr Utter Reading SeriesMonday, Nov 5BookPeople [map]7pm, Free[info]This month’s Utter Reading Series features two standouts from a couple hours south on I-35. Both teach at Trinity University in San Antonio, and both are long-overdue candidates for the Utter Series, which spotlights hot Texas-based writers. One has just won a national award for his short stories, and the other is an Austin-bred recent graduate of the Michener Center at UT. After the...

The UTTER Reading Series presents two young, local writers who are finding national success and recognition. Poet D. Antwan Stewart will present selections from his two books, The Terribly Beautiful (2006) and Sotto Voce (forthcoming) . Fiction writer Brian Hart, the winner of the first-ever Keene Prize for Literature, may read from his forthcoming and already-awarded novel, The Dog With the Broken Teeth, the One That Fetches Rocks. Stewart has an MFA from the Michener...

Tonight, the Blanton Museum's monthly B Scene event is being held in honor of James Michener's 100th birthday. There will be readings by fellows from UT's Michener Center for Writers (who, seriously, are inhumanly physically attractive and talented), at 8pm sharp. There will be periodic guided tours of the Blanton's Michener art collection. There will be music by Julia LaShae and Stay Gold. There will be birthday cake and a cash bar offering, among other things, the Austin-famous Blantini.

On Sunday, Austin Film Festival presents a free script reading of a comedy written by Anne Rapp, an Austinite, sometime Michener Center instructor, and Robert Altman collaborator whose previous credits include Cookie's Fortune and Dr. T and the Women. Her new project's called Double Wide, and a bunch of funny people, including Johnny Hardwick (King of the Hill), Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (Fletch and Fast Food Nation), and Matt Bearden (a Funniest Person in Austin winner),...

THURSDAY [7] music • Chicken Ranch Records, Obsolete Industries, Hold Fast, and 086 Studio present their Third Annual Christmas Shindig with The Ugly Beats, Automusik at Longbranch Inn ($5 or bring a new toy for Blue Santa, 8pm) music • Atomic Bitchwax, Pearls & Brass, Dixie Witch, The Flood at Emo's music • The Big Fix, O:A, Hellapeno at Stubb's music • Earl Greyhound, The Early Tapes, The Paper South at The Mohawk music...

In case you were in need of some cultural enrichment this weekend, here are some cerebral events for your consideration: SATURDAY (11/11) Do you only attend panel discussions featuring historic icons? Well, you're in luck this weekend as The Ransom Center presents A Conversation with Norman Mailer, literally. Norman Mailer, Gay Talese, and Lawrence Schiller will participate in a discussion moderated by professor Steven Isenberg. Admission is free and seats will go fast. Doors...

and more.

The novel's protagonist is one David Neisen, a man with a serious leaning in his fight-or-flight complex towards the latter.  As a child, he bears witness to - and is partially responsible for - the death of his closest friend, who drowns while the two engage in otherwise commonplace horseplay.  Rather than, say, running like hell to the authorities of his small Wisconsin town of Black Hawk, David instead opts to continue along his oblivious way.  Later, when the boy's corpse washes ashore, David has no satisfying response to the sheriffs' frustrated interrogations, save for the fact that this was simply how he reacted to the situation.

On Tuesday, John Dean of Worse Than Watergate and, of course, Watergate fame, reads at the Harry Ransom Center. 7:30-10pm, Prothro Theater on the UT campus. Sarah Vowell visits Book People on Wednesday. 7pm, 603 North Lamar. Tickets available at 6pm. Naomi Shihab Nye, National Book Award finalist, visiting professor at the UT Michener Center for Writers, and the author of numerous books of poetry and literature for young people, reads at the Avaya Auditorium...