Winfred Blevins

Win Blevins (born October 21, 1938)[1] is a New York Times Bestselling[2]American author of historical fiction, narrative non-fiction, historical fantasy, and non-fiction books, as well as short stories, novellas, articles, reviews, and screenplays. He has written many books about the western mountain trappers,[3] and is known for his "mastery of western lore."[4] His notable works include Stone Song, So Wild a Dream, and Dictionary of the American West. According to WorldCat, the Dictionary of the American West is held in 728 libraries.[5] Blevins has won numerous awards, including being named winner of the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement in writing literature of the West,[6] being selected for the Western Writers Hall of Fame,[6] being twice named 'Writer of the Year' by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers,[7] and winning two Spur Awards for Novel of the West.[8][9]

Win Blevins

Early life and education

Blevins, of Cherokee and Welsh-Irish descent, is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas. After attending school in St. Louis, Missouri, he moved to New York, where he received a Master’s degree from Columbia University, graduating with honors, and continued to California, where he attended the Music Conservatory of the University of Southern California.[7]

Journalism and writing career

Win Blevins started his writing career as a music and drama reviewer for the Los Angeles Times. He then became the entertainment editor and principal theater and movie critic of the Hearst newspaper in Los Angeles.[10] His first book was published in 1973 and since then he has made a living as a free-lance writer. He has written articles for magazines,[11][12] essays,[13] published thirty-one books, one a dictionary, several travel guides to the West, and the rest novels, including fantasy, historical fiction and modern works of the West such as his contemporaries Rudolfo Anaya, John Nichols, Scott Momaday, Max Evans and Barbara Kingsolver write. For fifteen years he was an editor at Macmillan Publishing. From 2010 - 2012, Win spent two years as Gaylord Family Visitor Professor of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma.[14] He has also written seven screenplays.

Books

Most of Win Blevins' books were originally published as hardbacks, and were subsequently made available as mass-market paperbacks, trade paperbacks, book club editions, foreign editions, audio books, and e-books. Almost all are still in print.

The Rendezvous Series

Natural History

Cherokee Pre-History Fantasy

Yazzie Goldman

As General Editor

Blevins also created, edited, and co-published the series Classics of the Fur Trade.

Awards

Pseudonyms

Win has published two novels and an article in True West Magazine[19] under the pen name, Caleb Fox.

Personal life

Blevins has five children and a growing number of grandchildren. He lives with his wife, the novelist Meredith Blevins, among the Navajos in San Juan County, Utah. Win has been a river runner and has climbed mountains on three continents. His greatest loves are his family, music, and the untamed places of the West. He considers writing for a living to be a great blessing.

References

  1. "Blevins, Winfred 1938– - Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  2. http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2016-03-20/e-book-nonfiction/list.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. http://web.archive.org/web/20131202224517/http://muzzleloadermagazine.com/Book%20Reviews/2004/BookReview_SO04_A.htm. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. "Fiction Book Review: A Long and Winding Road by Win Blevins, Author . Forge $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-7653-0577-0". Publishersweekly.com. 2007-09-03. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  5. "Dictionary of the American West (Book, 1992)". [WorldCat.org]. 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  6. 1 2 3 4 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/win-blevins-to-receive-2015-owen-wister-award-300021657.html
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Win Blevins on Native American Authors". Ipl.org. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  8. "Spur Award-Winning Westerns » Pop Culture@Ascpl". Ascplpop.akronlibrary.org. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  9. "Spur Awards « Western Writers of America". Westernwriters.org. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  10. "Blevins, Win 1938–." Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. Ed. Amy Elisabeth Fuller. Vol. 188. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 59-61. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. June 29, 2012.
  11. "Native Peoples" (PDF). Designbuildbluff.org. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  12. "Frank Waters: Man and Mystic - Ohio University Press & Swallow Press". Ohioswallow.com. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  13. "Hot Off The Press". Gazette.com. 2007-09-02. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  14. "Stone song : a novel of the life of Crazy Horse (Book, 1995)". [WorldCat.org]. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  15. "So wild a dream (Book, 2003)". [WorldCat.org]. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  16. "Spur Awards « Western Writers of America". Westernwriters.org. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  17. "Regional Book Award Winners" (PDF). Selectpeaks.com. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  18. "Caleb Fox, Author". Truewestmagazine.com. 2009-11-03. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.