Texas Writers Month kicks off with a party at the Hirshfeld-Moore House (814 Lavaca) on Thursday, May 4, from 7-10pm featuring the Floyd Domino Duo, beer from Waterloo Brewing Company, and Rudy’s barbecue. Free and open to the public, with proceeds from sales of books by Texas authors in attendance at the party benefiting the Austin Public Library System. Sponsored by Barnes & Noble and the Texas A&M University Press Consortium… Good news for the Katherine Anne Porter House and the people who have been working on its restoration: On March 31, the Texas Historical Commission sent a letter to Emily Little, the architect in charge of restoring the house, that stated, “The recently completed restoration of the Katherine Anne Porter house in Kyle, Texas … has been performed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Restoration,” which means that the path is now clear for the KAP house to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places… I always leave description of the annual O.Henry Punn-Off World Championships to the experts. To wit: “In fragrant violation of good taste, putrid puns and wretched wordplay will be the odor of the day at the 23rd Annual O.Henry Punn-Off World Championships. On Sunday, May 7, olfactory workers in the Austin area will be sent to witness the ladies and pungents in sniff competition in the back yard of the O.Henry Museum. This yearly favorite will be here sooner than you stink, so it’s snot too early to mark this reek on your calendar now.” You get the idea. Categories include “Punniest of Show,” a free-style competition for those who have prepared material and “High Lies & Low Puns,” where punsters in pairs are given a topic and a time limit in which to pun. The O.Henry Museum is located at 409 E. Fifth. Free and open to the public. Call 472-1903 for more information or visit http://puny.webjump.com… The mysterious and controversial Peña diary is up for an entire day of discussion on Saturday, April 29, from 9am-6:30pm at UT’s Center for American History in a conference titled “Eyewitness to the Texas Revolution: José Enrique de la Peña and His Narrative.” In 1975, the first English translation of Peña’s account that David Crockett was captured and executed soon after the fighting at the Alamo siege ended caused a major controversy that to this day has never quite died down. People insisted Crockett died while fighting; others suggested the Peña diary is a forgery. In the early Seventies, San Antonio businessman John Peace acquired the Peña diary in Mexico and housed it on loan at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Two years ago, members of the Peace family withdrew the manuscript in order to sell it. More Texas businessmen, Charles Tate and Thomas Hicks, bought it in an auction and then donated it to UT Austin’s Center for American History, which holds the largest collection in existence on the history of the Texas Revolution. During the conference, Stephen Harrigan will speak, as will various scholars of the Texas Revolution and experts on forged historical and literary documents. $15 for on-site registration. Call 495-4515 for more information…
This article appears in April 28 • 2000.