Winfred Blevins Explained

Winfred Blevins
Birth Date:21 October 1938
Birth Place:Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Pseudonym:Caleb Fox
Occupation:Author
Alma Mater:Columbia University
University of Southern California
Awards:Spur Award for Best Novel of the West (1995, 2004)
Owen Wister Award (2015)

Winfred Blevins (October 21, 1938 – July 2, 2023) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction. He wrote many books about the western mountain trappers,[1] and is known for his "mastery of western lore."[2] 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.[3] Blevins won numerous awards, including being named winner of the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement in writing literature of the West,[4] being selected for the Western Writers Hall of Fame,[4] being twice named 'Writer of the Year' by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers, and winning two Spur Awards for Novel of the West.[5] [6]

Early life and education

Blevins, of Cherokee, Welsh-Irish, and African-American descent, was a native of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was born on October 21, 1938.[7] After attending school in St. Louis, Missouri and receiving a scholarship, he moved to New York, where he received a master's degree from Columbia University, graduating with honors, and continued to California, where he received a foundation grant and was graduated from the Music Conservatory of the University of Southern California.[8]

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, the Herald Examiner.[9] 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,[10] [11] essays,[12] published forty 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 friends and contemporaries Rudolfo Anaya, John Nichols, Scott Momaday, and Max Evans wrote. For fifteen years he was an editor at Macmillan Publishing. From 2010 to 2012, Win spent two years as Gaylord Family Visitor Professor of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma.[13]

Screenplays

Blevins also wrote thirteen screenplays, including Atlas Shrugged for Al Ruddy; several for Paramount Pictures; The King of Paris with Dale Wasserman for CBS; The Real Dracula with Dale Wasserman (for Telly Savalas), CBS; Spring in Czechoslovakia for David Picker; John Milius's A-Team; Oonadaga for NBC; The Last Free Man for Fred Read, and six others. (In 1974 David Picker announced he would produce Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail directed by John Milius and written by Winfred Blevins, about Theodore Roosevelt.[14])

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 thrillers

As general editor

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

Awards

Pseudonyms

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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Book Review. Muzzleloader, The Publication for Traditional Black Powder Shooters. July 25, 2012.
  2. Web site: Fiction Book Review: A Long and Winding Road by Win Blevins. Publishersweekly.com . 2007-09-03 . 2013-11-25.
  3. Book: Dictionary of the American West (Book, 1992) . [WorldCat.org] . 2012-03-11 . 25316030.
  4. Web site: Win Blevins to Receive 2015 Owen Wister Award. Cision. Jan 16, 2015. February 7, 2018.
  5. Web site: Spur Award-Winning Westerns » Pop Culture@Ascpl . Ascplpop.akronlibrary.org . 2013-11-25.
  6. Web site: Spur Awards « Western Writers of America . Westernwriters.org . May 12, 2012. 2013-11-25.
  7. Web site: Blevins, Winfred 1938– - Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series . Encyclopedia.com . 2013-11-25.
  8. Web site: Win Blevins on Native American Authors . Ipl.org . 2013-11-25.
  9. "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.
  10. Web site: Native Peoples . Designbuildbluff.org . 2013-11-25.
  11. Web site: Frank Waters: Man and Mystic - Ohio University Press & Swallow Press . Ohioswallow.com . 2013-11-25.
  12. Web site: Hot Off The Press . Gazette.com . 2007-09-02 . 2013-11-25.
  13. Web site: Win Blevins - left Navigation - the University of Oklahoma . June 12, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120528184822/http://www.ou.edu/content/gaylord/home/main/faculty_staff/WinBlevins.html . May 28, 2012 . dead .
  14. "Warner's to Distribute Films of David Picker". Los Angeles Times. 21 Nov 1974. p. h23.
  15. Book: Stone song : a novel of the life of Crazy Horse (Book, 1995) . [WorldCat.org] . 32051142.
  16. Book: So wild a dream (Book, 2003) . [WorldCat.org] . 052208376.
  17. Web site: Spur Awards « Western Writers of America . Westernwriters.org . May 12, 2012. 2013-11-25.
  18. Web site: Regional Book Award Winners . Selectpeaks.com . 2013-11-25.
  19. Web site: Caleb Fox, Author . Truewestmagazine.com . 2009-11-03 . 2013-11-25.

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