'Capture the wind and the place'

 

���Anauthor knows his landscape best; he can stand around, smell the wind, get afeel for his place.��� ��� Tony Hillerman

 

Born on this date in 1925,Hillerman, who died in 2008, is best known for his Navajo Tribal Policemysteries featuring two iconic police officers ��� Joe Leaphorn and JimChee.  Several of his books have beenadapted as big-screen and television movies, including A Dark Wind andthe multiple-award winner A Thief of Time.

 

A native of Oklahoma, Hillerman gravitatedto New Mexico after serving in World War II. Starting as a journalist, he worked out of Santa Fe, and then moved toAlbuquerque where he both wrote for newspapers and earned a master���s degree inwriting.  It was while covering crimenews that he met a sheriff who became the model for his Navajo cop Joe Leaphornand sparked an idea for his first book TheBlessing Way. 

 

A consistently bestselling author,he wrote 18 books in his Navajo series and more than 30 books total, among thema memoir and several about the Southwest, its beauty and its history.  Given numerous awards, he said two of themost meaningful were one from the Navajo Nation and another from the Departmentof the Interior, recognizing his attention to Native culture and his encouragement formaintaining nature and the land. 

 

���Remember, he advised, "youwrite for both yourself and your audience, who are usually better educated andat least as smart as you are.���

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