Four authors making an argument for Austin's literary greatness
If writers were rock stars, these guys would be hooking up backstage right now
Dominic Smith's 'The Beautiful Miscellaneous'
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Thought it’s often eclipsed by our gaggle of genre film festivals, or music events of monolithic size but varying quality, Austin’s prodigious literary scene is no slouch. This here is a city that loves the printed page, evident everywhere from the thriving event schedule at BookPeople to the compelling (if relatively sedate) Texas Book Festival coming up later this month. And while, if you were to call them out in a bar, they may not get the same lusty “wooo” in response as a Stevie Ray Vaughn or Willie Nelson, the names of prominent Austin-based authors also ring out from their reputation—like J. Frank Dobie, Pulitzer Prize-winner James A. Michener, and Billy Lee Brammer, to name but a few. Here are four more Austinites with new or pending contributions to the city’s literary legacy that you should check out. (Assuming, of course, you’re already done reading Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined By Saxophone, And 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists—available now!)
Laura Furman
Furman leads a trio of interlocking lives as a short story writer and novelist, a UT English professor, and as the editor of the yearly anthology The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. Of course, making time for all of these isn’t always seamless: “I balance my career as a writer and professor with a great deal of effort,” Furman says. “It isn't easy. Teaching takes preparation and lots of effort, and is often exhausting. Writing takes quiet, time to think and consider, and time to actually write. Often the two are in conflict.”
Recommended reading: Furman’s first novella and collection of short stories, The Glass House, is both inspired and haunting. And her no-nonsense prose and refreshingly mature sensibilities haven’t diminished since its publication: Her 2001 short story collection Drinking With The Cook is one of her best. (She recently submitted another new collection of stories to her agent, but hasn’t yet decided who will publish it. Whoever does is s-m-a-r-t.)
Jake Silverstein
Silverstein racked up degrees at Wesleyan University, then studied at UT’s Michener Center before getting his feet wet as a reporter for Marfa’s Big Bend Sentinel. Since then, he’s made tremendous forward strides as a writer. Silverstein is currently the editor of Texas Monthly, and his first book, Nothing Happened And Then It Did, A Chronicle In Fact and Fiction sees release next year. “It’s a narrative about a young journalist bouncing around the Southwest, looking for the first big story that will get his career going,” Silverstein says of the book. “The only catch is that half the chapters are non-fiction and half are fiction. But I don’t attempt to conceal which is which.” Regarding Nothing’s release and inevitable subsequent speaking engagements, Silverstein jokes, “I’m anticipating a giant white luxury tour bus with my name in huge red letters on the side. The bus will cruise from city to city, dropping me off at lovely little independent bookstores in thriving downtowns, where capacity crowds of book-hungry people will have been lining up for hours. I will read from my book while the nice people eat perfect squares of orange cheese and grapes and think about which of their friends my book might make a good gift for.”
Recommended reading: While you wait for the book’s debut, prep yourself with Silverstein’s Texas Monthly features—and don’t miss his award-winning “Highway run: Touring Mexico in a death-race revival” for Harper’s Magazine.
Karen Olsson
Olsson was formerly employed by liberal rabble-rouser The Texas Observer, but now works with Silverstein at Texas Monthly as its senior editor. She completed her first novel, Waterloo, in 2005, about the misadventures of a young political reporter named Nick Lasseter who uncovers several misdeeds on high in a city clearly modeled on Austin. The Washington Post called it a “a funny, intelligent novel about people who are at odds and at home with each other, just like in a real town.” We say, “Who knew Austin was full of so much political intrigue?”
Recommended reading: Olsson is currently working on the follow-up to Waterloo, but in the meantime she’s churning out tons of interesting stories for Texas Monthly—including last month’s surprisingly engrossing “Why are tortilla chips so damn good?”
Dominic Smith
The Australian-born Smith received his MFA from the Michener Center, and since then he’s completed two novels: Perhaps inspired by his proximity to the Ransom Center, The Mercury Visions Of Louis Daguerre is a bit of romantic historical fiction about one of photography’s first notables, while The Beautiful Miscellaneous—reportedly in development for a major motion-picture adaptation—concerns the son of a physics professor who gains super-sensory skills after an accident that leaves him in a coma. Both books reveal Smith’s chief talents for vivid imagery and teasing out the unspoken psychological roots of our most important relationships, though it’s the wry humor of the latter that gives it a slight edge.
Recommended reading: Aside from his two novels, Smith is also a fan of short fiction; his story “Whitmore, 1969” (published by Atlantic Monthly in 2006) finds a way to make even the painfully picked-over subjects of Summer of Love nostalgia, Bob Dylan fetishism, and the lingering pain of Vietnam feel fresh. And if you’re already tired of reading, you can wait for the in-development film adaptation of The Beautiful Miscellaneous, rumored to star Freddie Highmore (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory).
