Contributors

Karen Olsson

“I’d wanted to write a novel for as long as I could remember,” says writer-at-large Karen Olsson of her literary debut, Waterloo, set in an imaginary Austin. “Growing up, I thought everyone did.” Olsson, who is a former editor of The Texas Observer and has written for U.S. News and World Report and The Washington Post, nevertheless found her foray into fiction a challenge. “A novel is rewarding in how you get to play with language and characters,” she says (and no, her portraits of journalists, rockers, and politicos aren’t based directly on people she knows). “But it’s also the hardest thing I’ve done.” Read an excerpt from her work.

Josh Cochran

When Josh Cochran got the assignment to illustrate “Wheel in the Sky”, he first read the story, oh, about five times. “I wanted to capture the feeling, the mood of the piece,” says the Los Angeles artist, who just graduated from California’s Art Center College of Design in April. After some research into Texas towns and school marching bands, he got to work. “I did a bunch of bad drawings first, whole pages of them,” says Cochran, for whom the texas monthly commission was a first. “You have to get that out of your system before arriving at the right one.”

Michael O’Brien

“We’d been trying to work outside, and the temperature was over a hundred,” says Michael O’Brien of the day he spent photographing ex–pro wrestler Kevin Von Erich and his family for “Six Brothers”. “At about four o’clock, Kevin’s youngest son, Marshall, came home from school, and he ran to talk to his dad. Despite the long day, Kevin was completely attentive.” O’Brien was struck by the fatherly devotion. “It’s remarkable when someone can turn such tragedy as the Von Erich family has suffered into something full of life.” The Austin-based photographer, who has captured many icons in his 33-year career, has an exhibit, “The Face of Texas,” opening at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum this month.
(For directions and more information, see San Antonio, Museums/Galleries).