Award-Winning Author William Elliott Hazelgrove to Document Camp Mystic Flood in Major Nonfiction Work

Award-winning author and historian William Elliott Hazelgrove has signed a publishing agreement with Bloomsbury Publishing for a major nonfiction work chronicling the devastating Camp Mystic flood, one of the most shocking and little-understood natural disasters in American history. The forthcoming book will tell the dramatic true story of the catastrophic flood that struck the beloved Camp Mystic in Texas, sweeping through a summer retreat and forever altering the lives of campers, families, and the surrounding Hill Country community.

Drawing from survivor accounts, archival research, government records, and new reporting, Hazelgrove will explore the human toll, the extraordinary acts of courage, the role of nature's fury, and how the disaster continues to echo through time. The author described the flood as "a once-in-a-century event that unfolded in moments yet left generations changed" and emphasized that his book will "bring to light the voices, the heroism, the heartbreak, and the lessons history nearly forgot."

Hazelgrove brings significant credentials to this project as the author of more than twenty books, including acclaimed works of narrative nonfiction such as Evil on the Roof of the World, Dead Air: The Night Orson Welles Terrified America, and Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson. His work has been featured in major media outlets including The New York Times, NPR, CBS, and PBS, and he has received numerous literary honors including starred reviews in Publisher Weekly and Kirkus, ALA Editors Choice Awards, and Distinguished Book Awards.

The author's background includes serving as the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence, where he wrote in the attic of Ernest Hemingway's birthplace, and his writing has appeared in publications including USA Today and The Smithsonian Magazine. His book "Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson" is currently in development, and he has two forthcoming titles: "Dead Air: The Night Orson Welles Terrified America" and "Hemingway's Attic: Hell and Glory in Cuba and the Writing of The Old Man and the Sea." More information about the author can be found at https://www.williamhazelgrove.com.

The Camp Mystic book represents an important contribution to American historical literature by documenting a significant but under-examined natural disaster. Scheduled for publication by Bloomsbury in 2027, the work promises to provide new insights into how communities respond to catastrophic events and how such tragedies shape regional identity and memory across generations. For Texas readers and historians, this publication will serve as a crucial documentation of a pivotal moment in Hill Country history, offering lessons about community resilience and disaster preparedness that remain relevant today.