BEHIND THE SPINE

One Book, One City: Texans Read Together
Kay Ellington, Editor and Publisher

Many Texas cities or regions in recent years have found it worth their while to host a community-wide reading program. College and university campuses find common reading experiences a great way for a freshman classes to bond. In our state a few years back, Texas Writers Month (May) even featured a statewide one-book program. This year, we’ve heard that the cities of Austin, Dallas, Odessa, and San Antonio are sponsoring common reading programs, along with the Gulf Coast region, which is taking up Anne Wiesgarber’s novel The Promise, set during 1900 Galveston hurricane. What makes such an initiative beneficial, and how do communities go about organizing one, and choose what to read?

We talked to Randy Ham, executive director of the Odessa Council for the Arts and Humanities, about how their One Book Odessa program has grown over the years. Odessa will be reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman during the period April 21 to May 23, 2015, and Gaiman will be appearing May 20 at the Wagner–Noël Performing Arts Center in a free, ticketed appearance in conjunction with One Book Odessa. (Follow details on the event's Facebook page.)

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: How did One Book Odessa start?

RANDY HAM: In 2010, I had returned to Odessa after a stint as a book buyer and author event coordinator for Hastings Entertainment in Amarillo. I had travelled to several cities that had hosted One Book, One City reads, and thought we could try one here in Odessa. I contacted the Ector County Library, the school district, and many other stakeholders to gauge interest. Everyone was very excited, and we began planning our first read.  >>READ MORE

Western Writers to convene in Lubbock June 23-27 with tours, presentations; Momaday to speak

The Texas Panhandle beckons Western writers and anyone who writes about the American West for the 2015 Convention in Lubbock, June 23-27.

During the week the association will pay tribute to Spur Award winners and recognize the literary contributions of Win Blevins, winner of the 2015 Owen Wister Award.

Pulitzer Prize–winning author N. Scott Momaday, who is also a past winner of the Wister Award (for House Made of Dawn) and a 2015 inductee into the Western Writers Hall of Fame, will present a keynote address. Momaday won the Pulitzer and the National Medal of Arts in 2007 for his work that preserves Native American oral and art tradition.

History presentations at the convention will cover such topics as Buffalo Soldiers, the Alamo, Comanche Indians, and frontier ranch women. Other sessions will take place related to the craft of writing, book marketing, and research sources and techniques.

The convention tour will take convention participants to the 6666 Ranch, one of the great heritage ranches in Texas founded in 1870 by Captain Samuel “Burk” Burnett. The Burnett holdings cover 275,000 acres on two Texas ranches: the 6666 Ranch (headquarters), near Guthrie, and the Dixon Creek Ranch, between Panhandle and Borger, both located in the western half of the state.

The convention will take place at the Overton Hotel, 2322 Mac Davis Lane, Lubbock, Texas 79401. Please call the hotel directly to reserve your room, 888-776-7001; ask for Western Writers of America room block for the conference rate of $129. The cutoff date for reservations is June 8, 2015, so plan accordingly. It is not necessary to be a member of WWA to attend the convention.

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