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  • Flair Symposium 2024: Literature and Change

Flair Symposium: Literature and Change

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
November 7–9, 2024

Free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Recognizing the fundamental value of literature to a healthy and prosperous society, the authors of the Texas Constitution called for the establishment of “a University of the first class” dedicated to “the promotion of literature, and arts and sciences.” Yet the study of literature is in a precarious state today. New technologies and the ascendance of visual storytelling have contributed to dramatic changes in how our society reads and accesses literature. Many indigenous traditions are rethinking and remaking traditional literature genres. For some, literature's very capaciousness poses a threat to notions of identity, leading to book bans and other forms of censorship. The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence is only the most recent development to raise profound questions about the nature and value of human creativity itself. All of these changes are at work in our cultural moment.

This Flair Symposium on "Literature and Change" brings together writers and readers to discuss and affirm the enduring value of reading and writing. It will feature keynote addresses by novelist Colm Tóibín and novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar, former president of PEN America. Lisa Lucas, most recently of Knopf Doubleday, will also address her experiences about the current state of the traditional publishing industry and what may lie ahead. Sessions will examine the history of literature instruction, the role of literature in civic engagement, the unique access literature offers to the inner lives of others, and the enduring appeal of that experience within reading communities. Finally, symposium participants will consider the vital role of stories in defining and binding together families and communities and the ways we all benefit, as individuals and a society, from literature.

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  • Program Schedule

    Free and open to the public. Registration is required.

    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7th

    2:00-3:00 pm, Harry Ransom Center
    Exhibition tour by Dr. Marion Wynne-Davies
    Join Dr. Marion Wynne-Davies, curator of Freedom to Write, Freedom to Read: The Story of PEN, for a special exhibition tour.

    6:30-7:30 pm, AT&T Conference Center
    Keynote by Colm Tóibín
    Renowned Irish novelist Colm Tóibín, author of Long Island (2024), an Oprah’s Book Club Pick, and Brooklyn (2015), winner of the Costa Book Award, discusses the enduring value of literature in this special keynote address.

    FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8th
    All sessions held in the Ransom Center’s Prothro Theatre

    9:00-9:30 am
    Welcome

    9:30-10:30 am
    Keynote by Lisa Lucas
    Lisa Lucas, former senior vice president at Knopf Doubleday and executive director of the National Book Foundation, explores the myriad ways in which we now write, publish, and read.

    Break

    11:00 am-12:30 pm
    Session One: History of Literature Instruction

    12:30-1:30 pm
    Lunch. Registration is required.

    1:30-3:00 pm
    Session Two: Soft Censorship and Publishing

    Break

    3:30-5:00 pm
    Session Three: Reading & Writing Communities Outside of Academia

    6:00-7:00 pm, AT&T Conference Center
    Keynote by Ayad Akhtar

    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9th
    All sessions held in the Ransom Center’s Prothro Theatre

    9:00-10:30 am
    Session Four: “Banned Books and Novel Ideas”

    Break

    11:00-12:30 pm
    Session Five: AI and Fiction Writing

  • Flair Magazine and the Ransom Center

    In 1950, Fleur Cowles (1908-2009) created a publication that became a landmark in publishing. Flair's provocative design, enlightened feature articles, and sophisticated advertising layouts left an indelible mark on publishing history. Fleur Cowles and Flair were and remain synonymous.

    Cowles prescribed a refreshing juxtaposition of the works of writers, artists, critics, and other notables. Indeed, the heart of Flair was its success in pulling together the new, the controversial, the innovative, and the creative.

    Like Flair, the Ransom Center brings together literature and the arts in an innovative way. The works of a rich cross-section of authors, artists, and designers exist side-by-side in the Center, yielding the same sort of insightful adventures found among the pages of Flair.

    Since 1994, the Ransom Center's Fleur Cowles Flair Symposium has honored the ideals set forth by Fleur Cowles and her landmark Flair magazine.

  • About Fleur Cowles

    Fleur Cowles was an American original. She made her way into the public eye as Associate Editor of Look magazine in the late 1940s, and made her distinct mark in 1950 when she published Flair, still considered one of the most innovative magazines in the history of publishing.

    For over 50 years Cowles was a prolific writer, producing 16 books, including her collections of autobiographical anecdotes Friends and Memories and All Too True. Her paintings, filled with jungle beasts and enormous flowers, first received international recognition at the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1965. She exhibited her artwork more than 40 times in galleries and museums around the world.

    Throughout the years, Fleur Cowles received numerous honors: she was Ambassador of the United States to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, received the Queen's medal and has been decorated by four other governments, is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, and carries an honorary degree of Bachelor of Law. She also served on boards supporting such activities as art, literature, and the preservation of wildlife.

Since 1994, the Ransom Center's Flair Symposium has continued the work of editor, writer and artist Fleur Cowles and her landmark Flair magazine by convening interdisciplinary conversations unlikely to happen elsewhere.

Contacts

Erica Nunn-Kinias
Associate Director for Exhibitions and Public Programs
erica.nunnkinias@austin.utexas.edu

Grace Hornfischer
Event Operations Manager
grace.hornfischer@austin.utexas.edu