Editor’s Corner
July 30, 2009
In the Heart of Texas
By
Andrea Pitzer
Scheherazade may have taken a thousand and one nights to tell her stories, but last weekend at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, they had only three to spare.
Saturday night keynote honors went to public radio’s Ira Glass, who sat in darkness for part of his presentation, spinning a tale of the Arabian Nights and Scheherazade herself, reminding listeners that narrative saved her life. Glass entertained the audience by running his own sound board and delivering a two-hour custom-built episode of his show This American Life.
“He just blew people away,” says Michael Merschel, an arts editor with The Dallas Morning News. “People were walking around afterward slack-jawed.”
Merschel may be biased, having served as a judge for the writing competition at this year’s conference, but others also rated Glass’ performance highly.
Which is not to say that the radio host had no competition. Conference organizer George Getschow claims the most powerful presentation came from writer Alma Guillermoprieto. A former dancer and longtime New Yorker contributor, Guillermoprieto brought in a dancer and harangued her through drills and steps as a prelude to talking about the extension and risks required to get to the heart of storytelling. “We don’t do pretty,” one observer quotes her as saying, “We do tough, and we do true.”
The conference, now in its fifth year, took place from July 24 to 26 in Grapevine, Texas, under the auspices of the University of North Texas. Each year, Mayborn writer-in-residence Getschow restricts conference attendance to 300, and each year the event has sold out. Manuscripts submitted in advance vie for cash awards totaling $15,000 and a chance at publication. [Full disclosure: Narrative Digest contributing editor Thorne Anderson will soon begin teaching in UNT’s journalism program.]
Mayborn occupies an unusual place in the narrative firmament. Former Wall Street Journal reporter and author of The Wanderer Erik Calonius says Mayborn feels different because the presentations take place in one big auditorium, where “being part of the group reaction brings you into the communal spirit.”
But to an outsider, the qualities that seem more unique are the unscheduled 4:00 a.m. discussions, the all-night backroading across Texas terrain, and the smaller group of students in a “narrative certification” program who decamp to Archer City—Larry McMurtry’s hometown—after the main conference ends. This smaller group stays in Archer City for several days of workshops.
Vallery Brown, an investigative reporter for The Oklahoman, found it great to be in one place with a bunch of people who do what she does. Brown narrated her own conference experience via Twitter and expressed surprise that more people didn’t do the same. She singled out Wall Street Journal reporter Roger Thurow’s presentation on hunger as the most impressive. “He really made it clear that policies we cover here might be helping someone in our back yard, but might be hurting someone across the ocean,” Brown says. “He was really incredible.”
After attending the first Mayborn conference as a student and returning this year as a presenter, Michael J. Mooney has his own perspective. He grew up in Grapevine, Texas, the home of the conference.
Mooney credits the Mayborn program with giving him a platform and skills to earn a slot in both The Best American Crime Reporting and The Best American Sports Writing anthologies for 2009. His presentation last weekend covered infiltrating subcultures, from gay rugby players to homeless addicts.
“It was kind of emotional being there this year,” says Mooney, “because that conference and that workshop have played such an important role in my life.”
Rumors abound that Tom Wolfe might headline the next Mayborn, but for now Getschow concentrates on how pleased he is with this year’s speakers, especially Glass. “We’d heard from his agent that he didn’t want to do book signings, and we’d read that he hated conferences,” says Getschow. “But he got teary-eyed at the end. He signed books until after midnight. And then he closed down the hotel bar with us. What a great surprise.”
[For more complete coverage of the conference, including thoughts on its future, see the The Dallas Morning News' “Texas Pages” blog entries from July 24 to 27.]