Austin Chronicle 2004 "Best of Austin" Critics Poll' Award Winner
“Best Local Authors” as featured in Writing Austin’s Lives

In April 2003, the University of Texas Humanities Institute launched its most ambitious public humanities and community-building initiative to date, “Writing Austin’s Lives.” By August 31, metro Austin residents of all backgrounds had submitted nearly 800, one to three page true stories about life in Austin, in English and in Spanish. Now, a stunning book-length collection of these stories has been released to the public, published jointly by the UT Humanities Institute and the Austin History Center Association’s Waterloo Press.

Writing Austin’s Lives: a community portrait captures a living history that you won’t find in any guidebook or newspaper, the stories of Austin’s many lives as seen through the eyes and told in the voices of its people. People of every age, every neighborhood, every ethnicity; people in comfort, in transition, in trouble; experienced writers, and those who never thought they had a story to tell, or someone to listen. Writing Austin’s Lives brings 127 such original visions and personal experiences of life in the South into print, arranged in ten thematic chapters. Together, these stories paint a unique portrait of the Texas capital at the start of the 21st century, and they allow us to experience a deeper and broader connection to our time, our place, our neighbors, ourselves.

The Table of Contents for Writing Austin's Lives is available in PDF format. Go to the Adobe site for more information on Acrobat Reader and the PDF format.