Formation of the The Author Project --

America's Authors Respond to the Tragedy

For Our Fallen Countrymen-

American Writers on Sept 11, 2001

The Author Project came about when novelist William Elliott Hazelgrove submitted an essay to PageoneLit.com. Mr. Hazelgrove who has been writing in the attic of Ernest Hemingway's boyhood home for several years and is the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence had been contributing a monthly column to the site. When John Weaver received Mr. Hazelgrove's essay on the World Trade Center Disaster, For My Fallen Countrymen, he was very moved. "I knew this essay was very special and I immediately posted it on the front page of the site. I told Bill this was to good just to be another column for his The View.I then put a call out to other novelists and journalists to contribute. "

William Hazelgrove like most Americans had been shocked by the events and was unable to work. "I was sitting in the attic trying to work on my novel, but I just couldn't concentrate," said Mr. Hazelgrove in a recent interview. "So I put it aside and wrote this essay for the people who had died under those buildings. I didn't know really what I was going to write but it flew out onto the page." After receiving Mr. Hazelgrove's essay, John Weaver put out a call to other authors for essays on the tragedy. After receiving over thirty essays, John Weaver called Mr. Hazelgrove and asked him if he would be willing to act as editor for a possible book with the proceeds going to the families of the disaster. "I thought it was a great idea, but I knew we needed big authors to make it fly," said Mr. Hazelgrove. "So I called my agent Michael Psaltis of Ethan Ellenberg and associates and asked him if he would be interested in a project like this. He said absolutely. So I rolled up my sleeves and began calling every author I knew and lot's I didn't know. Bringing writers together is not the easiest thing in the world. They are loners by nature and it's a bit like luring them out of their caves. But most authors wanted to help immediately." The project has been growing and now has on board luminaries like novelist Jaquelyn Mitchard and Rick Bragg and author and columnist John Greene and Rodger Ebert. "We have many big authors who we are awaiting essays from right now, "Mr Hazelgrove continued. "We'll get there."

The Author Project was featured in The USA Today

The Author Project was featured in The Chicago Tribune

Wilmington Star News

 

For More Information contact
The Authors Project
William Hazelgrove
Ernest Hemingway Foundation
Novelist52@hotmail.com

708-445-1240
Representation
Michael Psaltis
Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency
212-431-4554

or submit to Pageonelit@aol.com