Search

Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings

From 1961 to 1992, Julioeloy Mesa worked in the Cuban Institute of Cinematic Industry and Art, making movie posters that earned international awards, exhibitions in museums, and even a permanent collection in the Library of Congress. Though he now lives comfortably in Austin, Texas, Mesa's artistic struggle continues.

Richard Linklater and John Pierson Ponder 'Slacker' and Its Aftermath

With the current state of the environment, long belabored by activists and scientists who point to any number of warning signs of planetary collapse, it makes sense, Chronicle contributor Dan Oko writes, that writers with deep green inclinations would juggle literary aesthetics and scientific data in their efforts to jar us from the stupefying impact of too much information and too much bad news.

If there is drama in Laura Furman's stories, Robin Bradford writes, it is not usually the life and death kind. It is the daily, wearing, ineffable drama of living as a human island among others who invariably seem more attractive, more connected, or simply more "normal."

The news stories that didn't make the mainstream press in 2000

This week's literary events in Postscripts.

Spotlighting This Year's Visiting Celebrities

The Bush budget and children's welfare, Pete Domenici and nuclear power & Jonah Goldberg on the joys of sweatshops

The funny people at Modern Humorist have devised a new way to make fun of the President, and upcoming events in Austin's literary life.

What's a successful writer like Dagoberto Gilb got against the establishment?

Local foodies who are traveling for food, and an update on the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival.

Big career moves for a couple of Austin playwrights and big parties thrown by a couple of Austin arts organizations.

The Year in Texas Lit

For vulnerable performer Neal Medlyn, Dork = Cool.

A look inside the Teen Challenge faith-based drug treatment in Fort Worth suggests that there are problems with Christian drug rehab programs.

Books for Cooks

The romance field, Margraet Moser writes, is unique in its symbiosis: Most writers come from the ranks of readers and therefore understand the marriage of reader and book. The sisterhood and moral support in this almost exclusively female dominion is palpable. It is also gratifying and empowering and, in a few cases, exceedingly lucrative.

Political commentary on the career of Henry B. Gonzalez

Photos by John Anderson

The Fifth Annual Texas Book Festival

Portrait of a young junkie – and those he loves.

Based on her physical appearance alone, Jean Stapleton is a natural to portray Eleanor. But it turns out that the accomplished actress' resemblance to the first lady doesn't end there. It extends to her idealism, her feminism, and even her awakening to activism.

Upcoming events in September.

Seemingly unadaptable, Greil Marcus' 1989 opus Lipstick Traces proved to be the foundation for the Rude Mechanicals' strongest theatre work to date. As they revive their hit adaptation, the Rude Mechs reflect on its creation, its success, working as a collective, and being told by Marcus, "You staged the book I wanted to write."