Covering ground
Barry Shlachter served more than a dozen years as a foreign correspondent in Asia and Africa for The Associated Press. After returning to the United States on a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, he settled in Texas where he was a reporter, editor and beer columnist at The Fort Worth Star-Telegram for 28 years. In 2002, he was named Star Reporter of Texas by the Austin Headliner's Club and won the Dallas Press Club award for best reporter's portfolio, following his 9/11 coverage in New York and Afghanistan.
On the side, Shlachter launched a socially conscious publishing venture, Great Texas Line Press (www.greattexasline.com), which seeks to engage writers, photographers, designers, illustrators and editors who have left daily journalism because of the newspaper industry crisis. A portion of proceeds from book sales is annually donated to Trinity Habitat for Humanity, the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, the North Fort Worth Historical Society, Texas Dance Hall Preservation Inc., and the Big Bend Educational Foundation. Hundreds of books are donated each year to aid funding drives at NPR and PBS stations in Texas and Louisiana.