Lone Star Lit 101

When you think of Texas, certain images pop into mind: Oil wells. Cowboys. Football. The Alamo. Tex-Mex food. Big hair. Honkytonks. For me, I immediately think “writers.” “What the heck?!?!” you may be asking?

Well, remember that vintage postcard map of a Texan’s view of the United States? I’d argue that Texas is just that big when it comes to authors and books. Maybe it’s because I accidentally made Texas writers my business, starting with my stint at Texas Monthly, then as the founding director of the Texas Book Festival, and now as the executive director of the Writers’ League of Texas.

To be sure, Lone Star Literature was in full swing long before I moved to Texas in the –– ahem! –– 1980s. O. Henry did some time (literally and figuratively) right here in Texas, then Katherine Anne Porter escaped her Texas childhood to carve out her own initials on the American literary map. From there, the usual suspects took over: J. Frank Dobie, Roy Bedichek, and Walter Prescott Webb, followed by the likes of John Graves, Larry McMurtry, Larry L. King, Willie Morris, Bud Shrake, and Dan Jenkins.

But in the last 20 years or so, what has been going on down here is nothing short of breathtaking for those of us who devour books and literature. Here are some categories – and just for grins, note which names surprise you:

• Bestsellers: Larry McMurtry, Cormac McCarthy, Sandra Brown, Rick Riordan, Bud Shrake and Harvey Penick
• Prizewinners: Mark Doty (National Book Award), Lawrence Wright (Pulitzer), William Goetzmann (Pulitzer), David M. Oshinsky, Steven Weinberg (Nobel laureate), Louis Sachar (National Book Award)
• Westerns: Elmer Kelton, James Carlos Blake, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry
• Children’s Books: Kathi Appelt, Pat Mora, Angela Shelf Medearis, Kimberly Willis Holt, David Rice, Rene Saldana, Jr., Cynthia Leitich Smith (oh yeah, and the aforementioned Sachar and Riordan)
• Poets: Ai, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Mark Doty, Edward Hirsch, Harryette Mullen, Naomi Shihab Nye
• Journalists: Bill Moyers, Jim Lehrer, Bob Schieffer, Liz Carpenter
• The Texas Monthly Effect: Bill Broyles, Gary Cartwright, Stephen Harrigan, Gregory Curtis, Lawrence Wright, Mimi Swartz, Jan Jarboe Russell
• Dang Good Reads: Sarah Bird, Sandra Cisneros, Mary Karr, Karleen Koen, David Lindsey, Reginald McKnight, Benjamin Alire Saenz, Marion Winik
• Mysteries/Thrillers: J.A. Jance, Joe Lansdale, James Lee Burke
• Inspirational/Self-Help: Larry Dossey, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, Marianne Williamson, Joe Vitale
• Grande Dames: Molly Ivins, Liz Carpenter, Ann Richards
• Romance: Anita Bunkley, Judith McNaught, Christina Dodd, Lisa Kleypas
• Science Fiction/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction: Michael Moorcock (an interntational legend), Neal Barrett Jr., William Browning Spencer, Elizabeth Moon
• The Historians: H. W. Brands, Douglas Brinkley

Any of those names surprise you? There are oh so many more, not to mention all of those people who haven’t lived in Texas but write about it (i.e., Robert Caro and the presidential scholars!). And I haven’t even touched on Texas publishers, bookstores, MFA creative writing programs, etc.

Unlike so-called Southern literature, which tends to focus on family, the history of the south, and even race and Gothic mystique, Texas lit doesn’t have a distinctive Texas voice or typical subject matter. That is quite okay with me. Why should Texas writers echo one another and all be forced to write about Texas? I would argue that the fact that Texas writers crank out such an amazing variety of books makes our literary scene the most vibrant in the whole United States. Take that, Big Apple!

So next time you pick up a book at a bookstore or library, take a closer look –– chances are, you just might be reading a Texas author!

For more on Texas literature, check out Don Graham’s anthology, Lone Star Literature: From the Red River to the Rio Grande (W. W. Norton, 2003). And don’t forget the Texas Book Festival Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Related Articles:

• ‘Tis the Season for the Texas Book Festival