Thursday, October 23, 10-11 pm ET
Documentary explores the turbulent 15 years of the Handy Writers' Colony and its quixotic leader, Lowney Turner Handy. Nick Clooney narrates.

Thursday, October 23, 2008, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings)

An unusual colony for writers in the bucolic town of Marshall, Illinois, the Handy Writers' Colony and its quixotic leader, Lowney Turner Handy, provided a refuge for would-be writers during the 1950s. Lowney was both mistress and mentor to the colony's charter member, James Jones, whose breakout novel, From Here to Eternity , was a publishing sensation. Together, they came to believe that she could turn anyone into a great author. Narrated by Nick Clooney and featuring the voice of Jane Alexander as Handy, the film is an intimate story of one woman's passion to change the course of American literature. The program explores the turbulent 15 years of this literary experiment.