Letter from the Editor

Cathy Booth Thomas
editor-in-chief

Newspapers may be in trouble, but narrative nonfiction is very much alive – and trumpheted by TIME and Newsweek as the possible savior of the industry. The New Yorker, the Atlantic and Texas Monthly are vibrant in print and online. The medium may change, but the message doesn't.

At the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, we are zealous proselyters of the narrative craft. The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference and its companion publications, Ten Spurs and MAYBORN magazine, showcase our devotion to nonfiction storytelling. We're an odd publication: Stories by renowned writers jostle side by side with those of our graduate students, who create the layout, too. Our mission to nurture a "tribe" of writers not only in the Southwest, but also across the country, enjoys growing support from UNT and our advertisers. (Thank You!)

MAYBORN's emphasis this year is on obsessive reporting. I love lyrical writing, but if the reporting isn't there, the story falls flat for me. Michael Kauffman must agree. For American Brutus, he spent nearly four decades researching the life of John Wilkes Booth, even re-enacting his death in the burning barn. Michael Hall details his exhaustive research into lost causes a Texas Monthly. Roger Thurow of the Wall Street Journal tells how he went from dispassionate journalist to advocate for Africa's hungry in his book Enough. Bill Minutaglio, author of First Son, talks about his encounters with the Bush legacy and the "leering" moneymen of the book biz.

We have tons of crazy good pieces: interviews with memoirist Stephanie Elizondo Griest and Vilalge Voice Media upstart Mike Mooney (a Mayborn School grad), profiles of a delusional self-publishing author and a maven of independent publishing in Dallas, as well as a hilarious/sobering piece on Texas Monthly's Brian Sweany and Skip Hollingsworth. Gordon Grice and Dianno Solis reveal the inner angst of storytelling in a time of texting.

A Q&A with legendary travel writer Paul Theroux by George Getschow, UNT's writer-in-residence, opens the magazine. Theroux, in a rare introspective mood, says he fells like a "hobbit" eager to live simply, visiting traditional societies even if they occasionally throw stones or threaten him with spears.

George, a major force behind MAYBORN's creation in 2008, is upbeat about narrative nonfiction at UNT despite the suspension of Harven's vanted Nieman conference. "We are more than a program for journalists. Our focus is on storytellers," he says. "We are ahead of the curve. The conference, our narrative certification program, the magazine and Ten Spurs domenstrate that the world of narrative nonfiction is growing, evolving." Writers at the conference recently walked of with six-figure book deals from Houghton Mifflin and NAL/Viking, he notes.

Publisher Mitch Land,interim deadn of the new Frank W. Mayborn School Journalism, gives us remarkable freedom while demanding the highest standards. Newspaper publisher and benefactor Sue Mayborn, bless her heart, continues to support us: "I don't know what direction journalism is going to take, or in what form . . . ," she says. "I do know that an informed society is a free society. We have to stay with our misison of informing readers and stick with our principles of accuracy and fairness."

MAYBORN magazine won first place from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association this year for general magazine overall excellence. With direction from Outside Go design guru Mace Fleeger, we sport a clearner look now. Thanks to Mitch, George, Sue and Mace. But most of all, we want to thank the professional authors who took time away from book projects to write for us.