The Next Recipient
I am pleased with the news that my old friend Jory Sherman will receive the Owen Wister award, given for lifetime contributions to the literature of the West. He has written countless novels and short stories, as well as several books of poetry and numerous articles. His novel Medicine Horn won a Spur Award from Western Writers of America.
He began his literary career long ago, in the 50s, when he was among the writers in San Francisco generating a new literature. That was the Beat generation. He was a friend of Richard Brautigan and many other poets and writers of that period. His early stories ranged across many fields.
He turned to western fiction and that has been his mainstay ever since. He has written numerous traditional westerns, edited and written some western series, and also some major historical novels of the West, with great success. He is one of those rare people who have made an entire living from fiction through a lifetime.
He is a genius with language, choosing words and creating nuanced prose in surpassing ways. All his stories are infused with a certain poetry that adds to their grace and power.
Jory is nearly blind now, but he continues to write, using devices that enable him to continue onward, one letter, or one word at a time. He is a writer's writer, generating the sort of prose we all study to learn the art--and I emphasize the word art-- of creating a story. His new honor is good news.
He began his literary career long ago, in the 50s, when he was among the writers in San Francisco generating a new literature. That was the Beat generation. He was a friend of Richard Brautigan and many other poets and writers of that period. His early stories ranged across many fields.
He turned to western fiction and that has been his mainstay ever since. He has written numerous traditional westerns, edited and written some western series, and also some major historical novels of the West, with great success. He is one of those rare people who have made an entire living from fiction through a lifetime.
He is a genius with language, choosing words and creating nuanced prose in surpassing ways. All his stories are infused with a certain poetry that adds to their grace and power.
Jory is nearly blind now, but he continues to write, using devices that enable him to continue onward, one letter, or one word at a time. He is a writer's writer, generating the sort of prose we all study to learn the art--and I emphasize the word art-- of creating a story. His new honor is good news.
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