Issue date: 8/2/07 Section: NEWS

Media Credit: Kyle Phillips Joyce Carol Oates gives her lecture about Turning Non-Fiction Into Art Saturday night at the Writer's Conference. [Click to enlarge]

The Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism held its third annual Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest July 27-29. All forms of literary nonfiction were discussed to an audience of journalists, writers, educators and students.
An array of speakers included well-known writer Joyce Carol Oates, author Allison Hedge Coke, writer William Nack and Pulitzer Prize finalist Gregg Jones. In addition to the varied panel of speakers featured throughout the weekend, some lecturers emphasized their opinions on the role of truth in nonfiction work.
"Truth in nonfiction is not on my top priority list," Oates said.
The comment was received with mixed emotions by audience members and eventually sparked a debate among attendees.
Kim Hicks, Irving senior, said of the 19 speakers, she enjoyed Allison Hedge Coke, author of "Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer: A Story of Survival," the most. She said she enjoyed hearing the narrative of her life.
"Her work literally leapt off the page; it was so moving," Hicks said. "I'm trying to write a memoir myself, and some of the advice I received from Allison Hedge Coke was so helpful that I'll now be able to write my work."
Mitchell Land, Mayborn Institute director of public relations, said with approximately 100 additional people in attendance on Saturday night from Friday evening, this year's writers' conference audience expanded by about 15 percent from last year. The conference sold out in early July, and people were put on a waiting list after that in hopes of getting a ticket to the event, Land said.
"We actually expanded our awards category this year as well," Land said. "Traditionally we've always had a reporting-based category, but this year with all the unique submissions we felt the need to create an award for first-person essays or memoirs."
This year there were 95 essays submitted and 23 manuscript proposals. The recipients of the awards will be posted on the Mayborn Web page of the NT Web site.

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