Postscripts

Austin Writers' League director Jim Bob McMillan has been in that position for just over a month now; his top priorities are raising the visibility of AWL both locally and nationally and increasing membership of the 1,300-member organization simultaneously with an effort to know more about each of the league's members. At least three AWL board members are working on projects to benefit Austin's literary community: Tom Doyal, local attorney and short story writer, is pondering implementing a reading series perhaps twice a year modeled on the success of the Dallas Museum of Art's Arts and Letters Live series, where Doyal's story "Sick Day" was read by actor Barry Corbin to a favorable review by The New York Times. Doyal says the emphasis would be on "celebrating the spoken word" and reports that all informal responses to the idea have been very positive. (Please raise your hand if you'll fork over the money.) Doyal will be reading from his short story collection, Uncle Norvel Remembers Gandhi and Other Stories, on Wednesday, February 25, 7-9pm at the Cornerstone Gay & Lesbian Center, 1117 Red River...

Suzy Spencer wants AWL members to be able to meet with authors who come through Book People's doors in a private home where the author would speak for a few moments about his or her work and then field questions from members. She's speaking to Book People's Tammy Jordan about the idea...

Dorothy Barnett, a founding editor of Borderlands poetry review, is also the senior editor behind The Rio Review: The Student Literary and Arts Journal of Austin Community College, where she is a professor; the inaugural issue is at the printer right now and will be free for the taking on ACC campuses soon...

Folktales (1806 Nueces) has two upcoming events: On Friday, February 27, 5:30-7:30pm, they'll host Nathan McCall, Washington Post journalist and 1995 author of Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America. His latest book is What's Going On: Personal Essays. And on Friday, March 6, 6-7:30pm, they'll host the Austin contributors to a new anthology entitled Kente Cloth: Southwest Voices of the African Diaspora; those contributors are Sharon Bridgeforth, Vicky Charleston, Valerie Bridgeman Davis, and Ana Sisnett...

Austin writer and storyteller Marian E. Barnes has been named to the Connie Yerwood Conner African-American Women's Hall of Fame. She is the editor of Talk That Talk Some More and author of Black Texans: They Overcame, was named Yellow Rose of Texas by Governor Ann Richards after the publication of Talk That Talk Some More, and in 1989 was named Honorary Storyteller by Mayor Lee Cooke. A former Navy journalist, Barnes was the first African-American TV reporter in Philadelphia. The induction takes place March 7, 6:30pm, at the Chapel at Huston-Tillotson.

Cite & State

Texas A & M University Press has just distributed the new double issue of Cite, the architecture and design review of Houston, which is published quarterly by the Rice Design Alliance. This issue, though, is not uniquely about architecture and design in Houston but about "Texas Places," with contributors like John Graves and documentary filmmaker Jon Schwartz, an interview with Larry McMurtry, an article about architecture in hi-tech Austin, and an article by Stephen Fox about the calm, bookish charm of the Texas Room and its once mundane but now valuable resources in the Houston Metropolitan Research Center. Cite can be found at local stores with extensive periodical racks or by calling 800/826-8911. n

Ongoing: Half Price Books is taking entries until December 31 for their fourth Bedtime Story Contest; accepted stories will be published in Say Goodnight to Illiteracy, to be published in spring 1998. Stories should be no longer than 300 words and previously unpublished. Say Goodnight will be a children's book, but writers of all ages are encouraged to submit. Pick up entry forms at any Half Price Books location. Proceeds from the sale of Say Goodnight will benefit literacy and education projects.

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Book news for "Postscripts" must be received at least one week prior to issue date. Mail to: The Austin Chronicle, PO Box 49066, Austin, TX, 78765; fax 458-6910; or e-mail clay@auschron.com