Howdy Texas history buffs,
In previous columns, I’ve left William Sydney Porter, aka O. Henry, off my lists of great Texas writers.
Quite a mistake. He not only lived in Austin for at least 10 years, he spent the previous two years in La Salle County, and a short time in Houston after he left the capital city.
To boot, Henry set some of his 400 carefully crafted short stories in this state.
Soon, nine of those stories will be performed by the actors of Austin Shakespeare at the Long Center.
I took that as my cue to wonder aloud what Austin was like when Henry lived here. It’s a story that’s been told in bits and pieces elsewhere in these pages, as well as in my Austin Answered columns, and my paused Austin Found podcast.
In case you missed some of the previous columns on Texas literature, enjoy these links:
- Texas Independence Week: 53 of the best books about Texas
- Top Texas writers lionize Larry McMurtry in absorbing new book ‘Pastures of the Empty Page’
The Column
Imagine what it was like in Austin when famed short-story writer O. Henry lived here