Elmer Kelton (April 29, 1926[1] – August 22, 2009[2]) was an American author, known for his Westerns. He was born in Andrews County, Texas.

Elmer Stephen Kelton
Kelton at the 2007 Texas Book Festival
Kelton at the 2007 Texas Book Festival
BornApril 29, 1926[1]
Five Wells Ranch, Andrews County, Texas, U.S.
DiedAugust 22, 2009(2009-08-22) (aged 83)[2]
San Angelo, Texas, U.S.
Occupation
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
Period1957–2009
GenreWesterns
SpouseAnna (née Lipp) Kelton
Children3
Website
elmerkelton.net

He graduated from the University of Texas in 1948. Kelton worked as the farm and ranch editor of the San Angelo Standard-Times from 1948 to 1963. He served as the associate editor of Livestock Weekly from 1968 to 1990. Kelton's memoir, Sandhills Boy, was published in 2007.

Kelton's novels won seven Spur Awards, from the Western Writers of America, and three Western Heritage Awards, from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. He also received a Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement.

Awards

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Year Award Category Work
1957 Spur Award Novel Buffalo Wagons
1971 Spur Award Novel The Day the Cowboys Quit
1973 Spur Award Novel The Time It Never Rained
1974 Western Heritage Award Western Novel The Time It Never Rained
1977 Owen Wister Award Western literature Lifetime achievement
1979 Western Heritage Award Western Novel The Good Old Boys
1981 Spur Award Novel Eyes of the Hawk
1988 Western Heritage Award Western Novel The Man Who Rode Midnight
1992 Spur Award Novel of the West Slaughter
1994 Spur Award Novel of the West The Far Canyon
2002 Spur Award Best Western Novel Way of the Coyote
2010 (posthumously) American Cowboy Culture Association Fictional works Lifetime achievement

Bibliography

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Partial list of works:

  • Barbed Wire (1957)
  • Buffalo Wagons (1957)
  • Shadow of a Star (1958)
  • Texas Rifles (1960)
  • Donovan (1961)
  • Massacre at Goliad (1965)
  • After the Bugles (1967)
  • Llano River (1968)
  • The Day the Cowboys Quit (1971)
  • Wagontongue (1972)
  • The Time it Never Rained (1973)
  • The Wolf and the Buffalo (1980)
  • Dark Thicket (1985)
  • Honor at Daybreak (1991)
  • Slaughter (1992)
  • The Far Canyon (1994)
  • The Pumpkin Rollers (1996)
  • Cloudy in the West (1997)
  • The Smiling Country (1998)
  • Way of the Coyote (2001)
  • Jericho's Road (2004)
  • Six Bits a Day (2005)
  • Ranger's Law: A Lone Star Saga (2006)
  • The Rebels: Sons of Texas (2007)
  • Many A River (2009)

Texas Ranger novels:

  • The Buckskin Line
  • Badger Boy
  • The Way of the Coyote
  • Ranger's Trail
  • Texas Vendetta
  • Jericho's Road
  • Hard Trail to Follow
  • Other Men's Horses
  • Texas Standoff

References

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  1. ^ a b Kelton, Elmer (2007). - Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer. - New York, New York: Forge. - p.26. - ISBN 978-0-7653-1521-2.
  2. ^ a b "UPDATE: Elmer Kelton dies at 83". San Angelo Standard-Times. Archived from the original on August 26, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
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