The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference
Sponsored by the
Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism
at the
University of North Texas
July 24-26, 2009
Grapevine, Texas
The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference appreciates its many sponsors who assist the Mayborn tribe in gathering each year in North Texas.
Bryan Burrough – selected to speak at The Mayborn in 2010
The Mayborn Tribe
Like everyone who attends the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest, I think of myself as a storyteller. And when I tell a story, I’m drawn to images that evoke the deepest meaning – the existential and emotional truth of the story.
For me, if there’s one image that defines what the Mayborn Conference story is about it’s Craig Hanley, seated outside the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel, surrounded by our confreres requesting his signature on his debut literary nonfiction book, “William & Rosalie.” Directly across from Craig sat Joyce Carol Oates, a literary legend who had just delivered a keynote speech titled “Turning Nonfiction Into Art.” Joyce was also surrounded by a swarm of our conferees and speakers seeking her signature on “On Boxing” and some of her other widely acclaimed books and novels.
Hearing Craig, once a struggling carpenter, chatting about his new book and his new life as a writer, was enough to make a grizzly old journalist like me choke up. I set my copy of “William & Rosalie” on his table, asked him to autograph it, and left without saying another word. I didn’t want the throng gathered around Craig to see that the Mayborn’s writer in residence had become a sniveling, teary-eyed mess. I fled for the nearest exit sign. When I returned, I picked up “William & Rosalie,” opened the cover and read, “George, you changed my life for the better with this break…Thanks Brother.”
Click here to read the rest of the essay by our writer-in-residence, George Getschow.
|
