Postscripts

A major exhibition that traces the relationship of the black letter typeface to issues of German nationalism opened this week at New York's Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography at Cooper Union. Here in Austin, graphic designer and Texas Writers Month poster creator Marc English is also thinking about graphic design in relation to national identity. His new book Designing Identity: Graphic Design as a Business Strategy has just come out, and this is how he explains the impetus behind it: "[In 1985,] I was part of a small research team documenting petroglyphs - images carved in stone - and pictographs - images painted on stone. Ostensibly, my task was to commit the images to paper before time or vandals took their toll on the rock art. For myself, I was beginning to comprehend the roots of graphic design - of visual communication - in North America." English's book is a compilation of 40 case studies examining the roles design plays in forging a business' identity; Austin's Live Oak Brewing Company is one of those case studies... Natasha Waxman is a 1997 graduate of the Texas Center for Writers whose story "Forager" was selected for inclusion in Scribner's Best of the Fiction Workshops 1998 by novelist Carol Shields. The story was nominated by TCW director Jim Magnuson. Currently, Waxman is a post-graduate Michener fellow. Daniel Noah Halpern, a former UT English grad student with a concentration in creative writing, also has a story in the book, "The Golem's Record." Waxman will read at Barnes & Noble Arboretum Thursday, March 5, 7pm...

Peter Cooper, author of Hub City Music Makers: One Southern Town's Popular Music Legacy, is coming all the way from Spartanburg, South Carolina on Saturday, March 7, 4pm, to discuss the book at Threadgill's World Headquarters while one of the subjects of the book, Champ Hood, plays. (Hood's former bandmates in Uncle Walt's Band, David Ball and Walter Hyatt, are included in the book.) After the Threadgill's event, Cooper will read at Book People, 7pm...

Dean Sluyter, author of Why the Chicken Crossed the Road: And Other Hidden Enlightenment Teachings From Buddha to Mother Goose appears on John Aielli's Eklektikos, KUT 90.5FM, March 6, 10:15am...

Graves Contest

UT Press is now accepting entries for the second annual John Graves Essay Contest. Three winners and 10 finalists will be announced at the 1998 Texas Book Festival. Send a 2,500 word nonfiction essay and a $15 entry fee to: Keri North, Graves Contest, University of Texas Press, PO Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713 before May 30. The contest is open to all who draw literary inspiration from the people and places of Texas, and aims to foster the talent of Texas writers. Entrants are encouraged to read and gain inspiration from the work of John Graves, and should strive to emulate Graves' subjects rather than his style. Last year's winners include Linda Mussehl, a newspaper columnist and freelance writer from Kingsbury, awarded first place for The Windows of My World; Teresa L. Holmberg, a teacher from Dickinson, was awarded second place for Ruby; and Donley Watt, an Austinite and author of The Journey of Hector Rabinal and Can You Get There From Here?, won third place for his essay The Texas Stream. A panel of judges selects the best entries, with John Graves being the final judge who selects the final three winners.

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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