What if all of Austin wrote its own stories and shared them in a book?
That's the premise behind an award-winning new anthology, Writing Austin's Lives: A Community Portrait .
The University of Texas Humanities Institute encouraged Austinites of every age, ethnicity, religion, neighborhood, occupation and life circumstance to submit a story and make their voices part of Austin's history.
They received more than 800 memoirs and selected 127 as their favorites. Program coordinator Sylvia Gale wanted to get real people talking - and telling real stories.
"What if we, Austin, wrote its own stories and then read them? What if we really gave people the thing that they have in common - which is this place?" Gale said.
Author Christa Brown and her husband fell in love with Stacy Park – literally. They even named their daughter Stacy.
"What makes it special is that it expresses, I think, the heart and soul of Austin. This is the place that called to us and kept us here and held us here. It held our hearts," Brown said.
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Writing Austin's Lives
Watch an overview of the project with many of the featured authors.
 
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Rosalinda Stevenson wrote about her love for Rosewood Park and her childhood there.
"It was a grand place. This is where black people gathered, because you know, Austin, we don't have a big population of blacks here, and its still really small compared to a lot of places, so everybody know everybody and this is where we gathered," she said.
It's different places in Austin that called all the authors to share their voice.
All this week News 8 Austin is taking a look at the people and places behind the stories as the authors explain what makes Austin "Austin" to them.
Tuesday
(Part 2) "Saving Treaty Oak" by Frank Stronghorse
Wednesday
(Part 3) "Diversity" by Quincy Burks
Thursday
(Part 4) "I Love Lamar" by Sarah Paige
Friday
(Part 5) The Power of a Child's Imagination featuring "The Pecan Trees" by Marissa Barrera and "The Mustangs" by Louise LaBauve Saxon
