Mayborn Conference

From Bill Marvel: Several people who regularly post to Gangrey have attended the Mayborn Conference here in North Texas. It's aimed at exactly the kind of writing Gangrey promotes -- smart, literary non-fiction. Last year Gay Talese came to speak and stayed for the whole conference. He was astonishingly gracious, making himself available constantly to writers who wanted to just talk. Those of us who grew up reading Talese wondered why this sort of thing didn't happen in the '60s or '70s, when we most needed it.

Geoge Getschow, who runs the conference, is a former Wall Street Journal writer and editor, a Pulitzer prize-finalist, and a teacher of legendary status at the University of North Texas. The roster of speakers he attracts to these conferences -- this is the third -- is awesome.

The Mayborn is not just a part of the non-fiction renaissance that's under way in American newspapers. Here in the Southwest it's the main engine of that renaissance.

Details: World-renowned writer Joyce Carol Oates, a three-time Nobel Prize nominee, will headline the 3rd Annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest July 27-29 at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine, TX, five minutes from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Oates will be joined by humor writer Mary Roach, Publisher Nan A. Talese; Burkart Bilger, an author and staff writer for The New Yorker whose work has been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing; William Nack, an author and senior writer at Sports Illustrated; Kevin Fedarko, an award-winning adventure and travel writer at Outside magazine; Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, American Indian author of the stirring memoir, Rock, Ghost, Willow,Deer, and many other prominent authors, editors and literary agents. Legendary writer Gay Talese will attend this year to visit with conference participants.

"I'm convinced that anyone who attends the Mayborn Conference will leave with a new level of insights, storytelling skills, and understanding of the aesthetic qualities and requirements of literary nonfiction," Talese said.

The conference will also include a manuscript and article/essay writing contest. The manuscript winner will earn a provisional book publishing contact with UNT Press, and the 10 best articles or essays will be published in a literary journal jointly published by Hearst Newspapers and the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism. The 10 "Best of the Best" submissions will be published in the Hearst/Mayborn Literary Journal. The best articles and essays will also compete for $12,000 in cash prizes.

Students can register for $200, educators for $250 and the general public $275. The price includes sumptuous meals. Conference seating is limited. To register or for more information, visit the website, mayborninstitute.unt.edu, or contact George Getschow, the Mayborn Conference's writer-in-residence: 972-746-1633, or Nancy Eanes, conference coordinator, 940-565-4778.