Kathleen Orillion
Hometown: Plaquemine, LA
Education: Louisiana State University, B.A. Art History, University of Texas at Austin,
M.A. Radio-TV-Film
Career: Writing and teaching
Genres: Primary-Screenwriting; Secondary-Fiction

What do you consider the most valuable lesson you learned at the center?
I learned a lot of things from writing, from reading other people’s work, and from hearing comments on my writing and on my classmates’ writing, but I think the lessons learned were more specific to the work at hand rather than over-arching ideas.

What was your impression of James Michener?
I was impressed that Mr. Michener attended some of our workshops and not just as a guest but as a participant.  He actually read our work and had honest and constructive feedback on our writing.  He was very pragmatic about writing and that was a lesson that stuck with me.  About sticking with it, about establishing a routine, about seeing it as a job – and a privilege – as opposed to something loftier or more glamorous.  He even liked to talk to us about how we planned to make a living after we graduated.  He was such a realist and, even though he had been wildly successful in his career, he never seemed to take that for granted or to be above speaking about the practicalities of writing while also paying the bills.

How did your work change as a result of your experience at the center?
If I’m remembering correctly, I submitted my screenplay False River and a short story, Brother, with my application.  Both pieces were very much inspired by and immersed in my extended family and my life in Louisiana before coming to Austin.  I think that over the course of my time in the program, and since, I’ve been able to expand and imagine other lives outside of my own experience, and as a result, the focus of my work has expanded and hopefully gotten richer.

How did the experience at the center shape you as a writer?
More than anything, it gave me the time to write and the freedom to focus completely on writing.  It also reinforced how important it is to seek out some kind of writing community to get and give feedback on one another’s writing, to bounce ideas off of, and of course for companionship in whining.

What have you done since graduating from the center?
I’ve continued to write since graduating.  I was hired to write screenplays for New Line, ABC, Lifetime, Edward Pressman Productions, Silver Dream Productions, and others, and I’m in the process of revising my first novel.  I’ve also been fortunate enough to teach screenwriting at UT, both for the Radio-TV-Film Department and currently for the Michener Center.

What have you published or produced?
A television movie that I wrote was produced and aired on USA Network.  Some of my feature film scripts have been optioned though none yet produced.  I hoping that I’ll get my novel published and I received some encouragement on that front when it was named a semi-finalist in the James Jones First Novel Writing Fellowship award.

Do you have a writing ritual?
I don’t have a set ritual.  I usually write in the morning.  I read over what I wrote last time and begin.  Okay, sometimes I play a game of internet checkers and then begin.

Have you ever experienced writers block? If so, how did you overcome it?
Yes, I did experience writers block several years ago and what helped me was starting something completely new in a different genre – a novel rather than a screenplay.

Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite book?
My all-time favorite novel is Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.   I love the precision of his writing and the way he’s able to get inside the head of the main character and makes us feel the things she feels, even though she’s not a particularly likable person.   For example, in this passage, he describes Emma’s boredom with her husband:

“But it was above all at mealtimes that she could bear it no longer, in that little room on the ground floor, with the smoking stove, the creaking door, the oozing walls, the damp floor-tiles; all the bitterness of life seemed to be served to her on her plate, and, with the steam from the boiled beef, there rose from the depths of her soul other exhalations as it were of disgust. Charles was a slow eater; she would nibble a few hazel-nuts, or else, leaning on her elbow, would amuse herself making marks on the oilcloth with the point of her table-knife.”

Emma’s commentary on her home life is harsh and hypercritical, yet we get such a visceral sense of her boredom and her longing for something exciting that we can’t help but identify with her.  Or at least I can’t.

What are your future plans, if any?
Keep writing as much as time allows and keep teaching when that’s available.

What do you miss most about the Michener Center for Writers?
The time to focus on writing exclusively and the camaraderie of our class.

Who would you look forward to seeing most at a Michener Center for Writers reunion and why?
I would look forward to catching up with all of my fellow Fellows.

Jack Brannon
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Education: Rice University, BA political science, University of Texas at Austin, MEd.
Career: University Administrator, UT Austin Colleg of Fine Arts, 1979-2005
Genres: Primary-Poetry; Secondary-Playwriting

Who was the most important lesson you learned at the center?
David Wevill taught me that I could be a storyteller and a poet at the same time — something I had not known. Judith Kroll opened my eyes to the craft of writing in a way I had not seen. It expanded my horizons.  Some of the visiting writers were an important part of that.  The experience gave me understanding that my task and goal as a writer have to be to realize and convey my own voice, no one else’s.

What were your impressions of James Michener?
When I was in the program, Mr. Michener had gotten more frail and was not coming to campus but each semester, he invited each fellow to send him [one’s] work and then come out to his house for a private conversation or work-shopping.  Each of those occasions was remarkable and beneficial for me.  He had a keen eye and his mind still razor sharp.  He could swell your head with praise and then shrink you back to size with a few key observations of your work.  I have great admiration for Mr. Michener.  I thought his notion of having us study more than one genre made sense in the world we live in today.  He cared about the fellows and was usually present at any center gatherings. He was fun with his sharp wit, and he was a humble philanthropist who gave back generously, especially to education and the arts, while living simply and without great personal luxury.

How did your work change as a result of your time at the center?
I submitted a short manuscript of poems when I applied.  By the end of the program, I had made some real progress in the aspects of crafting a poem and of making fuller use of language and rhythm.  My writing has evolved consistent with the mode of narrative poetry that I studied at the Michener Center.  I have also developed an interest in writing memoir or creative non-fiction, something I did not study in the MFA program.

What have you been doing since graduating from the program?
Ten years ago I established the Poetry at Round Top festival and we have been “growing” that project for a decade.  Running a festival wasn’t something I ever anticipated doing, but Jim Magnuson taught me that we don’t always pick our niche; sometimes a niche picks us.  It is very satisfying work of spreading the word of good poetry and building community for writers and readers.  I also retired from my “university day job.”  I continue to write but not nearly enough to satisfy me.

What have you published?
Very few and scattered publications. Poems in a couple of excellent anthologies: one in the Texas Observer.  A poem commissioned for the opening of the Blanton Museum of Art — a poem I dedicated in part to James Michener, who was a leading donor.  A text commissioned for a piece of classical music.  Self-published one book of poems and in 2009, a new chapbook of poems.

Do you have a writing ritual?
I am not well-disciplined.  I wish I had a better practice.  Mr. Michener was a great model of self-discipline in writing.  I wish I had learned that lesson better.

Have you ever experienced writer’s block? If so, how did you overcome it?
Writer’s block — yes, more often than not.  An endless struggle.  Joining a writing workshop or writing circle is one way that I overcome block and get something going.

Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite book?
[It’s] hard to narrow that down.  I’ll say Mark Doty, a poet, memoirist, essayist, editor and teacher.  He wrote his important life story in both poetry, “Atlantis,” and in prose, “Heaven’s Coast.”  Both are remarkable works of art and intellect.

What are your future plans?
I still plan and hope to write more, submit more and publish more, including an essay or book-length memoir.  I will continue to direct the Round Top festival.

What do you miss most about The Michener Center?
Fellowship, collegiality, and the extra creative sources of visiting writers and seminars.

Who would you look forward to seeing most at a Michener Center reunion?
All the fellows were good to know and work with — but maybe Bruce Snider, a fine poet who has continued to work at and develop his writing and career.