Write On

Two hundred and sixty-four acres just west of Austin, a "simply but adequately furnished" house, and $2,000 per month for six months. Since 1967, this has been the aspiring Texas author's little parcel from the stars, aka the Dobie Paisano Fellowship, and the University of Texas and the Texas Institute of Letters award only two each year. The 2002-03 Fellows are Oscar Casares and Todd Hearon (no relation to Shelby), and they'll be following the footprints left by the likes of Stephen Harrigan (1977), Sandra Cisneros (1985), Dagoberto Gilb (1988), and Mylène Dressler (March of 2002). Casares, a native of Brownsville and a UT graduate with an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, will arrive at Paisano -- the late folklorist, writer, and historian J. Frank Dobie's retreat -- in September to finish revisions on his debut, Brownsville: Stories (Back Bay Books, spring of 2003). He'll also begin work on a novel. Hearon, a poet and playwright, begins his residence in March, and he'll be completing a book of poems called Caliban in the After-Life. The application deadline for the 2003-04 Dobie Paisano Fellowships is January 31, 2003. Applicants must meet at least one of the following requirements: be a native Texan, have lived in Texas for at least two years, or have published writing that has a Texas subject. Visit www.utexas.edu/ogs/Paisano/info.html or e-mail Dr. Audrey N. Slate, director, at aslate@mail.utexas.edu for more information.