Begun by Donald Barthelme and Phillip Lopate, Gulf Coast is the nationally-distributed journal housed within the University of Houston's English Department, home to one of the US's top ranked creative writing programs. The journal spent its nascent years (1982-1985) as Domestic Crude, a name that nodded to the major industry of the Houston area. It was a 64-page (magazine-formatted) student-run publication, with editorial advising coming from Mr. Lopate, who also contributed work to the first issues.

In 1986, the name Gulf Coast premiered. It stuck. After some experimenting, the journal found its dimensions and, eventually, its audience. The journal has since moved beyond the student body of the University of Houston and into the larger world. Our readership of the print journal currently exceeds 3,000, with more and more coming to our ever-expanding website. The print journal comes out each April and October.

Gulf Coast is still student-run. We seek to promote and publish quality literature in our local and national communities while simultaneously teaching excellence in literary publishing to graduate and undergraduate students. While we are committed to providing a balanced combination of literary approaches and voices, all of the editorial positions are two-year terms, thus ensuring a regular turnover in the specific personality and style of the journal.

In addition, Gulf Coast differs from many other literary journals in its commitment to exploring visual art and critical art writing. The journal has always featured portfolios by two artists, along with short introductions from critics familiar with their work. Since October 2013, Gulf Coast commits sixteen pages to full-color visual art features and twenty-four pages to critical art writing in each issue. This expansion was made possible by Gulf Coast's merger with Texas art journal Art Lies, a publication with a respected history of putting artists, curators, scholars, and critics in dialogue with their colleagues around the world.

The journal has enhanced its community presence thanks to the Gulf Coast Reading Series, a monthly gathering at Lawndale Art Center in the Museum District neighborhood of Houston, as well as with its annual Spring Issue Release Party. These events continue to bring esteemed writers, editors, publishers and, of course, readers to the Houston area.

Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, generously funded by grants from the Brown Foundation, Inc.; theThe Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts; Inprint, Inc.; Houston Endowment, Inc.; the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; theTexas Commission on the Arts; the University of Houston English Department; and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as through the support of individual contributions.

Celebrate the release of The Grandest Garden with Gina L. Carroll!

EVENT DEETS

When: Thursday, June 6, 2024

Where: Kindred Stories Reading Garden (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support our programming and the author. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gina L. Carroll is the author of A Story That Matters: A Gratifying Way to Write About Your Life and editor of Stories Are Medicine: Writing to Heal, An Anthology. A self-pro-fessed story wrangler, Gina founded StoryHouse Texas, a creative space dedicated to cultivating and amplifying the diversity of vision and voice in story. The Grandest Garden is her debut novel. She currently lives in Houston, Texas. To learn more about Gina, visit www.ginacarroll.com.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an award-winning writer, director, performer, critic, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, TX. Praised by the NY Times as an artist who “defies categorization”, her genre-bending works span from stage to page, and everything in between. She is the author of Newsworthy (Bloomsday Literary, 2019) which was translated into German (Berichtenswert, Elif Verlag, 2020), Black Chameleon (Henry Holt, 2023), and an upcoming children's book, Hush Hush Hurricane (Kokila Books). Honored as part of Houston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 class, she has been a contributing writer for Glamour, Texas Monthly, Muzzle, and ESPN's Andscape, to name a few.

Her most recent choreopoem, PLUMSHUGA: The rise of Lauren Anderson, debuted at Stages Theater and made the cover of the NY Times Culture Section. Her forthcoming opera, She Who Dared, composed by Jasmine Barnes, will  debut in Spring 2025. Her memoir, Black Chameleon (Henry Holt & Co, 2023), recently won the the Carr P. Collins award for Best Nonfiction through the Texas Institute of Letters (2024). Order your copy now.

In March 2017, Bob Lee—freelance writer, community organizer, social worker, social justice warrior, child of Houston’s Fifth Ward and its advocate, former Chicago Black Panther—died at the age of 74. Alongside his larger legacy, he left behind this collection of fourteen stories published in the Houston Chronicle’s Sunday Texas Magazine between 1989 and 2000.

Framed by journalist and scholar Michael Berryhill, these youthful recollections and tales of his East Texas relatives reveal Lee’s shock at learning that his elderly aunt and uncle, who lived in Jasper, Texas, were lifelong Republicans; recount his discovery at the age of 19 that white people, too, could be poor; recall integrating a small-town restaurant with the help of the white rancher who hired him; explore the world of Black longshoremen and offer meditations on the mysteries of death. 

As he lay suffering from cancer, Lee told Berryhill that he wasn’t thinking about dying, but focusing on love. Berryhill, who was Lee’s first editor at the Houston Chronicle, has lovingly collected and edited Lee’s stories, which are complemented by an introduction and biographical essay. Treasured storyteller Bob Lee’s essays offer to readers the experience of Black history in both urban and rural settings by invoking the simple details and events of everyday life.

The editors of Texas Monthly celebrate the ever-evolving culinary landscape of the Lone Star State in this stunning cookbook, featuring more than 100 recipes, gorgeous color photos, and insightful essays.

When it comes to food, Texas may be best known for its beloved barbecue and tacos. But at more than 29 million people, the state is one of the most culturally diverse in America—and so is its culinary scene. From the kolaches introduced by Czechs settlers to the Hill Country in the 1800s to the Viet-Cajun crawfish that Vietnamese immigrants blessed Houston with in the early 2000s, the tastes on offer here are as vast and varied as the 268,596 square miles of earth they spring from.

In The Big Texas Cookbook, the editors of the award-winning magazine Texas Monthly have gathered an expansive collection of recipes that reflects the state’s food traditions, eclectically grouped by how Texans like to start and end the day (Rise and Shine, There Stands the Glass), how they revere their native-born ingredients (Made in Texas), and how they love the people, places, and rituals that surround their favorite meals (On Holiday, Home Plates). Getting their very own chapters—no surprise—are the behemoths mentioned above, barbecue and Tex-Mex (Smoke Signals, Con Todo). With recipes for über-regional specialties like venison parisa, home cooking favorites like King Ranch casserole, and contemporary riffs like a remarkable Lao beef chili, The Big Texas Cookbook pays homage to the cooks who long ago shaped the state’s food culture and the ones who are building on those traditions in surprising and delightful ways.

Packed with atmospheric photos, illustrations, and essays, this essential Texas cookbook is a vivid culinary portrait of the land, its people, and its past, present, and future.

Discover the recipes, stories, and traditions that define the Lone Star State:

* Diverse Culinary History: Go beyond barbecue and tacos to discover the full breadth of Texas cuisine, from Czech kolaches in the Hill Country to the Viet-Cajun crawfish of Houston.
* Modern & Traditional Recipes: Master beloved classics like King Ranch casserole and explore contemporary riffs like a remarkable Lao beef chili from the state’s rising culinary stars.
* Recipes for Every Occasion: Find the perfect dish for any meal with chapters eclectically grouped by how Texans live, from weeknight dinners (Home Plates) to holiday feasts (On Holiday).
* Stunning Food Photography: Packed with atmospheric photos and illustrations, this book is a vivid culinary portrait of the land and its people, making it a perfect coffee table book for any food lover.

Celebrate award winning author, Bernice McFadden's memoir, Firstborn Girls!

EVENT DEETS

When: Thursday, April 10 @ 7 PM 

Where: Kindred Stories (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004) 

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to ensure your seat an a copy of Firstborn Girls!

There are limited free RSVP ONLY tickets so please make sure that you can make it. 

Please note that copies of Firstborn Girls purchased from other retailers will not be allowed in the venue. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

From award-winning author and creative writing professor at Tulane University comes an intimate and powerful memoir exploring inherited trauma, family secrets, and the enduring bonds of love between mothers and daughters.

On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died in a car crash near Detroit, only to be resuscitated after her mother pulled her from the flaming wreckage. Firstborn Girls traces her remarkable life from that moment up to the publication of her first novel, Sugar.

Growing up in 1980s Brooklyn, Bernice finds solace in books, summer trips to Barbados, and boarding school to escape her alcoholic father. Discovering the works of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, she finally sees herself and her loved ones reflected in their stories of “messy, beautiful, joyful Black people.”

Interwoven with Bernice's personal journey is her family's history, beginning with her four-times enslaved great-grandmother Louisa Vicey Wilson in 1822 Hancock County, Georgia. Her descendants survived Reconstruction and Jim Crow, joined the Great Migration, and mourned Dr. King’s assassination during the Civil Rights Movement. These women's wisdom, secrets, and fierce love are passed down like Louisa's handmade quilt.

A memoir of many threads, Firstborn Girls is an extraordinarily moving portrait of a life shaped by family, history, and the drive to be something more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bernice L. McFadden is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Tulane University and the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including Sugar, The Warmest December, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, Glorious, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors' Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), The Book of Harlan (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction), and Praise Song for the Butterflies (long-listed for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction). She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR