Postscripts

Valerie Bennett, curator of the O. Henry Museum, might disagree with this classic O. Henry quip from 1912's The World and the Door: "A favorite dodge to get your story read by the public is to assert that it is true, and then add that Truth is stranger than Fiction." Bennett needs no dodge for her story, one almost too good to be true. The city-owned museum she's in charge of recently acquired $4,526.34-worth of rare books about and by
O. Henry at cost from Jim Scoggans, a generous O. Henry collector in Houston; it's a find that required eight years of patience and some initial skepticism from Bennett, who too often finds herself tracking down leads that don't come to fruition. In 1990, when Scoggans visited the museum, which doesn't charge admission, he mentioned to Bennett that he had some first editions of O. Henry's work, but didn't spill the specifics, like his possession of the 12-volume manuscript edition of O. Henry's short stories published two years after O. Henry's death by his longtime publisher Doubleday. Or that he owned Upton Sinclair's 1925 play Bill Porter: A Drama of O. Henry in Prison as well as The Dimity Sweetheart (which is what O. Henry called his wife Athol) by Frances Goggin Maltby, both extremely rare books. Bennett kept Scoggan's card until February 6, when she and her husband headed to Houston to investigate. She's still accessioning the books under lock and key, which is why you shouldn't expect to see the books just yet. On May 16 at Barnes & Noble Westlake, 2-4pm, some of the books will appear alongside local literati like Carolyn Osborne, Robin Bradford, and Arthur Bradford, all past O. Henry Award winners, who will read short stories written by elementary school students involved in the O. Henry Writing Club, a program founded by the museum to encourage writing by children. When asked what channels at the city she had to go through to obtain the acquisition funds, Bennett simply replies, "I'm pretty proud of my donations box." She ought to be...

What was Borders brass doing in town last week? Borders CEO Rich Flanagan and other top Borders execs were doubtlessly intrigued by the profits the local store posted last year, profits far above what were expected. They were also scouting locations around the Sixth & Lamar area; it's no secret that Borders would like to increase its presence in Austin...

It looks like Barnes & Noble will be creating a new presence in the Violet Crown Awards, though details have not been confirmed. In a March 6 letter to Sandra Bybee, president of the board of the Austin Writers' League, George Mitchell, president and CEO of the University Co-op, wrote, "For many years now the University Co-op has hosted the Violet Crown Awards. It has been a pet project of mine, I started it and have enjoyed our participation in the proceedings. Unfortunately, now that we are no longer in the trade book business it no longer seems logical that we be the sponsor. I have talked to Barnes & Noble and they are interested in taking over the sponsorship." More news later...

The African Literature Association will be holding its free and open to the public 24th annual conference March 25-29 at UT, the Omni Hotel, and the Driskill with some big names like Chinua Achebe, Maryse Conde, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o coming to town. To view the entire conference program, visit http://www.cnn.utexas.edu/~ala or call 471-5531...

John Aielli's Eklektikos, KUT 90.5FM, has lined up the following authors: On March 23, noon, Douglas Coupland; and on March 24, 10am, Molly Ivins.