W. F. Strong, PhD, is a Fulbright scholar and Professor of Communication at the University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley. He grew up in Texas and holds degrees in communication and literature from Abilene Christian University and the University of North Texas, as well as a doctorate in Communication and Rhetoric from the University of Arizona. His storytelling influences range from Mark Twain, on whom he wrote his doctoral dissertation, to former public-radio host Garrison Keillor. Strong has pursued a lifelong fascination with Texas literature, history and culture, having immersed himself in the classic books of the great Texas novelists and historians, from Walter Prescott Webb’s Indians of Texas to Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove series to Philipp Meyer’s The Son. He grew up working on farms and ranches in South Texas and so has had a long connection with the Texas soil, as did his ancestors, who farmed and ranched in North Texas for more than a century. Two of his distant relatives signed the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico. This familial history has nurtured his love for the vibrancy of Texas culture, both historical and modern. All these influences came together in the development of a series of brief, often humorous, sometimes dramatic radio vignettes called "Stories From Texas." They are intended to teach and amuse and inspire. In them he seeks to celebrate the Texas character in all its toughness; to showcase poignant passages from the vast literature this land has produced; and to provide a narrative for Texas pride, entrepreneurial success and Texas mythology. Celebrating Texas' charismatic culture and revealing the diverse forces that forged it, Stories From Texas airs biweekly on Texas Standard Radio, a daily news program produced in Austin that is carried on 30 NPR stations across Texas.
