The 2024 conference will commemorate the 27th Angelo State University Writers Conference in Honor of Elmer Kelton. Our two-day conference brings award-winning authors from all genres to campus to share their works and their creativity with the ASU community and the public. It is one of the few in the state that requires no registration fees for presenters and guests.
This year’s featured writer is critically acclaimed short-story writer Manuel Muñoz. Muñoz is the author of a novel, “What You See in the Dark,” and the short-story collections “Zigzagger” and “The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue,” which was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. His most recent collection, “The Consequences,” was a finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize and longlisted for the Story Prize.
A recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant along with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts, he has been recognized with a Whiting Writer’s Award, three O. Henry Awards, and two selections in Best American Short Stories, and was awarded the 2023 Joyce Carol Oates Prize. His work has appeared in places like The New York Times, American Short Fiction, Electric Literature and ZYZZYVA.
A native of Dinuba, California, and a first-generation college student, Muñoz graduated from Harvard University and received his M.F.A. in creative writing at Cornell University. He currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.
Muñoz’s keynote addresses will take place on Thursday, February 29, at the following:
9:30 a.m.
“A Conversation with Manuel Muñoz”
C.J. Davidson Conference Center, Houston Harte University Center
7 p.m.
“Reading and Presentation by Manuel Muñoz”
C.J. Davidson Conference Center, Houston Harte University Center
Additionally, local and regional writers are invited to showcase their works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and prose. Their 50-minute panel presentations will take place from 1-5PM on Thursday, February 29, and 10AM-1PM on Friday, March 1. All panel presentations will be conducted in the Eldon Black Recital Hall in the Carr Education-Fine Arts Building.
For presenter and panel details, please visit the Event Link.
The conference is held every year in honor of the late Elmer Kelton, who wrote more than 40 books, including “The Time it Never Rained,” “The Man Who Rode Midnight” and “The Good Old Boys.” He was a seven-time winner of the Western Writers of America’s (WWA) Spur Award, and the WWA named him the “all-time best Western author.” The event is hosted by the Natalie Zan Ryan Department of English and Modern Languages and sponsored by the university with support from the ASU Alumni Association, the College of Arts and Humanities, and Guy and Eva Choate.
Photo Credit: John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation