{"id":190,"date":"2018-12-31T11:08:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T11:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=190"},"modified":"2018-12-31T11:08:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T11:08:02","slug":"6-28-15-news-briefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=190","title":{"rendered":"6.28.15 News Briefs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Western Writers of America to meet in Lubbock June 23-27<\/h1>\n

The Texas Panhandle beckons Western writers<\/span> and anyone who writes about the American West for the 2015 Convention in Lubbock, Texas, June 23-27.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>Western Historian Robert Utley<\/span> (right), a past winner of the Wister Award and a 2015 inductee into the Western Writers Hall of Fame, will present a keynote address.<\/p>\n

History presentations at the convention cover topics such as Buffalo Soldiers, the Alamo, Comanche Indians, and frontier ranch women. Other sessions will take place related to the craft of writing, book marketing, and research sources and techniques.<\/p>\n

The convention tour will take convention participants to the American Wind Power Center and the Bayer Museum of Agriculture, plus the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University. The convention will take place at the Overton Hotel, 2322 Mac Davis Lane, Lubbock, Texas 79401. It is not necessary to be a member of WWA to attend the convention.<\/p>\n

2015 Spur Award Winners and Western Writers Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>During the week the association will pay tribute to the year\u2019s Spur Award winners and recognize the literary contributions of Win Blevins<\/span> (right), winner of the 2015 Owen Wister Award.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Homestead Foundation board of directors, which oversees the Western Writers Hall of Fame, voted to induct the Owen Wister Award recipient into the Hall of Fame, housed at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.<\/p>\n

Blevins is best known for his mountain man classic \u201cGive Your Heart to the Hawks\u201d and his novel of Crazy Horse, Stone Song,<\/span> for which he won a Spur Award. His newest book is The Darkness Rolling,<\/span> which he co-wrote with his wife, Meredith Blevins.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the other inductees to the Hall of Fame this year are Judy Alter, Matt Braun, James A. Crutchfield, David Dary, Max Evans, Andrew J. Fenady, John Jakes, Leon C. Metz, N. Scott Momaday, Robert M. Utley, Dale L. Walker, Richard S. Wheeler,<\/span> and Jeanne Williams,<\/span> all of whom who have previously been recognized by WWA with either a Saddleman Award or a Wister Award (both given for lifetime achievement).<\/p>\n

Also included in this year\u2019s list of inductees are non-writers such as John Wayne, John Ford, and Clint Eastwood.<\/p>\n

Recently deceased Wister honorees not already in the Hall of Fame, including Robert J. Conley, Fred Grove, Tony Hillerman, Elmer Kelton, Norman Zollinger, Jory Sherman,<\/span> and David Lavender, <\/span>will be posthumously inducted, along with Edward Abbey,<\/span> who was voted into the Hall of Fame by the membership of Western Writers of America.<\/p>\n

Other writers being recognized this year are S. Omar Barker, Bill Gulick, Dee Brown, Alvin Josephy Jr., Benjamin Capps, Jos\u00e9 Cisneros, Tom Lea, Elmore Leonard, Nelson Nye, Gordon Shirreffs,<\/span> and Don Worcester.<\/span><\/p>\n

The induction ceremony will take place June 26 at the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock.<\/p>\n

Among the other writers who already hold a place in the Hall of fame are Andy Adams, Eve Ball, B. M. Bower, Willa Cather, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Peggy Simpson Curry, Bernard Devoto, J. Frank Dobie, Frederick Glidden (Luke Short), Helen Hunt Jackson, Wallace Stegner, John Steinbeck,<\/span> and Laura Ingalls Wilder.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information contact Candy Moulton, WWA executive director, wwa.moulton@gmail.com<\/p>\n

(information from www.WesternWriters.org)<\/p>\n

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Western Writers of America Spur Awards winners, finalists to be honored during WWA\u2019s convention In Lubbock June 23-27<\/h1>\n

Candy Moulton<\/p>\n

Western Writers of America Executive Director<\/p>\n

The Homesman,<\/span> based on Glendon Swarthout\u2019s<\/span> 1988 Spur Award-winning novel, has won the 2015 Spur Award for Best Western Drama Script, while Jerome A. Greene\u2019s<\/span> American Carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890 <\/span>has been recognized for Best Nonfiction-Historical book, Western Writers of America has announced.<\/p>\n

Actor Tommy Lee Jones<\/span> wrote the screenplay for The Homesman<\/span> with Kieran Fitzgerald<\/span> and Wesley A. Oliver.<\/span> Jones also starred with Hilary Swank in the critically acclaimed Ithaca Films production, which is about a frontier woman and a claim jumper who escort three insane women back to civilization in the 1850s. Greene\u2019s book, published by the University of Oklahoma Press, details the tragic confrontation between the 7th Cavalry and Lakota Indians in South Dakota.<\/p>\n

Since 1953, WWA has promoted and honored the best in Western literature with the annual Spur Awards, selected by panels of judges. Awards, for material published last year, are given for works whose inspiration, image, and literary excellence best represent the reality and spirit of the American West.<\/p>\n

James D. Crownover\u2019s<\/span> Wild Ran the Rivers<\/span> (Five Star Publishing) won for Best Western Historical Novel and Best First Novel, and Jefferson Glass\u2019s<\/span> Reshaw: The Life and Times of John Baptiste Richard<\/span> (High Plains Press) won the inaugural Spur for Best First Nonfiction Book.<\/p>\n

Winners and finalists will be honored during WWA\u2019s convention June 23-27 in Lubbock, Texas.<\/p>\n

Other winners:<\/p>\n