The Second Annual Lee Quinn Nesbitt Symposium on Texas History and Culture has been set for June 15, 2002. This year's symposium will feature the top Texas novelist Robert Flynn, the historian and novelist James L. Haley, and the author of biographies aimed at young adults, Jean Flynn.
    Robert Flynn, the symposium's keynote speaker, is the author of seven novels, including North to Yesterday, Wanderer Springs, and the recently-published Tie-Fast Country. Flynn has won the Texas Institute of Letters' Distinguished Achievement Award and many other awards. He also has published numerous short stories and essays, an oral history, and a nonfiction book about the Vietnam War, and has written a television documentary. His talk, entitled "Is It Fiction or Nonfiction? Truth or Fact? Prejudice or Considered Opinion?" will deal with the relationship of fiction to history, and will close the symposium. Flynn is widely known for his sense of humor, and for his entertaining presentations. He also appeared at the library in 1997.
    James L. Haley, who will deliver his address "Sam Houston: The New Discoveries" in the early afternoon, is the author of the just-released new biography Sam Houston, as well as four other books of Texas history (Apaches: A History and Cultural Portrait, The Buffalo War, Texas: An Album of History, and Texas from Spindletop to World War II), and three novels. Haley, who has been praised for the grace and accessibility of his writing style, worked on the biography of Houston for eleven years.
    Jean Flynn will open the symposium with a paper entitled "Why NOT Tell All." Flynn is the author of nine biographies for young adults, eight of which deal with Texas subjects, including Stephen F. Austin, William B. Travis, James B. Bonham, Jim Bowie, and Lady Bird Johnson, and of a series of biographical sketches published in 1999 as Texas Women Who Dared to be First. Her paper will deal with the craft of writing books for young audiences.
    All three authors will answer questions from the audience and autograph books. Copies of some of their books will be available for purchase. Persons interested in attending should contact the library for more details.
    The symposium will open at 10 a. m., with the presentation by Jean Flynn. James L. Haley will take the podium at 1 p. m., and Robert Flynn will follow him at 2:30.