Allan Gurganus is finishing his new collection of stories and novellas in a volume called “Assisted Living.” Its theme is the necessity and comic hazards of care giving. Included will be as-yet unpublished works as well as anthologized stories like “My Heart is a Snakefarm” and “He’s at the Office.” One of the new stories, “Fetch”, appears in the Summer Issue of "Tin House" magazine.

During spring of 2008, the National Portrait Gallery’s “American Pictures” series commissioned Gurganus to explicate and dramatize a beloved American painting. He settled on Thomas Eakins’ late-life portrait of Walt Whitman. His public performance, lavishly quoting from Whitman, featured over seventy projected images. The talk, enlarged with further paintings and photographs, will be reprised at the University of North Carolina’s Ackland Museum on October 2, 2008. “The Yale Review” is to publish the text of the performance in its January 2009 issue.

Biographies of two Gurganus mentors will appear shortly. They quote extensively from his memories concerning these two friends and masters. Blake Bailey’s magisterial and witty life of novelist, John Cheever, will appear from Knopf this fall. Suzanne Carboneau’s biography of choreographer Paul Taylor is due out next year.

Gurganus and Jane Holding have perfected a theatrical text from his first novel. “Oldest Living Confederate Widow: Her Confession” will soon be published by Samuel French and Company. This one-person show is thereafter available for performances worldwide.

In early January 2009, Gurganus and Gore Vidal will be keynote speakers on the theme “Historical Fiction” at the Key West Literary Festival.

On February 27-28th 2009, Gurganus will be a speaker and moderator at Duke University’s conference on the Bloomsbury Group. Other guests will include Julian Bell, grandson of Vanessa Bell, and great nephew of Virginia Woolf.

Come April, Gurganus will appear in Chattanooga at the bi-annual conference of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Forthcoming documentary film appearances: Gurganus will be in Lilly Rivlin’s “Grace Paley: Collected Stories.” A movie in celebration of the work and life of novelist Elizabeth Spencer begins shooting in July.