Gulf Coast Gala fetes literary magazine
Wednesday night’s Gulf Coast Gala, set in Hermann Park’s McGovern Centennial Gardens at sunset, assembled Houston’s literary and art community.
Some 130 power players gathered at the Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion to celebrate Gulf Coast, a journal of literature and arts; first there were cocktails and light bites, later City Kitchen’s colorful spring dinner.
Remarks from board president Misty Matin bookended the program, with grilled vegetable salad with bread and fresh burrata, halibut and alternating dessert tarts (chocolate pecan and lemon meringue) served in between.
Arts patron Judy Nyquist, newly minted Houston Arts Alliance executive director
John Abodeely, emerging arts champion Caroline Starry and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Chris Goins were among those dining semi-al fresco in anticipation of guest speaker and author Justin
Cronin’s remarks, which served as a condensed memoir of how his first published literary works came to be.
Gulf Coast’s editor Luisa Muradyan Tannahill introduced gala chair Carolyn Roch Henneman, who teased the crowd: “Justin needs no introduction. You don’t ever know what he’s going to write or say … including tonight.”
The former Rice University English professor’s dialogue began tamely enough. Cronin denounced Twitter — “I’m sick of 140 characters” — and Facebook before praising Gulf Coast for “providing a serious venue for writers.”
“The human soul needs a solid dose of art,” he said. “The moment in a writer’s life when they’re first published is often the most important.”
Then he read an amusing account of his own publishing journey, from ghostwriting an autobiography for the “founder of fish sticks” to winning the PEN/Hemingway Award for “Mary and O’Neil.”
In support of Gulf Coast’s critical art writing and visual art features, eventgoers raised more than $50,000. A host of budding authors is mighty grateful.