Women Writing the West

High energy and marketing are attributes of all the members of WWW. Started in 1994, Women Writing the West is open to anyone who writes about Western land and cultures. These authors have published outstanding works in hardcover, mass market and trade paperback, as well as e-books. The three-day convention is held in October each year.

Some WWW writers you'll see at your local bookstores include Irene Bennett Brown, Joann Levy, Michelle Black, Molly Gloss, Marlys Millhiser, Margaret Coel, Jane Valentine Barker, Harriet Rochlin, Jerrie Hurd and Doris Eraldi.

Libraries as well as bookstores will have nonfiction by Laurie Winn Carlson, Janet Graebner, Ellen Gray Massey, and Ann Seagraves, Sherry Monahan as well as most of the authors mentioned above. Poetry is available from Linda M Hasselstrom, and others, while articles and short fiction are regularly seen in magazines and anthologies throughout the country.

The organization publishes a quarterly newsletter, and sets up a booth at most major western trade shows and book festivals. Each year the prestigious Willa Awards are given in several categories of Western writing.

Western Writers of America

This national organization is helpful to creativity, research and marketing. Started in 1953, Western Writers of America is the second oldest national genre organization in the country. It is open to anyone who writes about events and people found in the American West. The focus is more than western pulp, with authors of nonfiction, poetry, music all included along with fiction about ancient times to the modern day. The WWA five-day convention is held in June each year in a different western city. The 2008 convention will be in Scottsdale, Arizona, 10 - 14 June.

WWA authors produce too many publications to list them all here. Many members are also member of Women Writing the West. Some WWA writers names you'll see at your local bookstores include D. L. Birchfield, Johnny D. Boggs, Matt Braun, Irene Bennett Brown, Tim Champlin, Laverne H. Clark, Robert Conley, Loren D. Estleman, Kathleen and Michael Gear, John Jakes, Elmer Kelton, Joann Levy, Elaine Long, Lucia St. Clair Robson, Richard S. Wheeler, and Eugene C. Vories.

Libraries as well as bookstores will have nonfiction by Jim Crutchfield, Charlotte Hinger, the late R.C. House, Kay McDonald, Valerie Mathes, Nancy M. Peterson, and the late Don Worcester, while cowboy poetry is available from Gwen Petersen, Mike Logan, and others.

Short fiction and articles from Larry K. Brown, Jim Crutchfield, Candy Moulton, Lenore Puhek, Lincoln Rogers, and many others are regularly seen in magazines and anthologies throughout the country. The WWA membership, which numbers more than five hundred, is continually producing.

Each year the prestigious Spur Awards are given in several categories of Western writing; the Best First Novel welcomes a new writer and the Owen Wister Award honors lifetime achievement in Western literature. The awards are not restricted to WWA members. Entries are received from authors and publishers, and the awards are given to what the judges deem have been the best entries in the particular categories.