Small Town Author

$26.95

Small Town Author

By John R. Erickson

More than 50 years ago, John Erickson took a vow of discipline. Every day, he would find a quiet place and write for four hours. And he’s still doing it.

Readers have come to anticipate his much-loved Hank the Cowdog books, as well as other books on ranching and writing.

Small Town Author documents the journey of a young man eager to escape his Texas Panhandle childhood to the adult who returned to that place to write books for rural readers he had previously scorned. Read about Erickson’s journeys to Denver, Austin, Cambridge, New York and back home. From bartending to church work, social activist to ranch work, his background has given us a distinct voice.

Erickson also writes about his memories of other important Texas writers — J. Evetts Haley, Larry McMurtry, Elmer Kelton and others.

Although the book is about writing and literature, Small Town Author also considers universal questions of how we come of age, how leaving home changes us, and returning brings us full circle.

Hardcover, 288 pages.