Spur Award for Best Novel of the West
Encyclopedia
This is a list of the works of fiction which have won the Spur Award
for Best Novel of the West:
Spur Award
The Spur Award is an annual literary prize awarded by the Western Writers of America. Founded in 1953 with only four categories , the award today has expanded to include the following categories:...
for Best Novel of the West:
- 1953 - Best Historical Novel: "The Wheel and the Hearth" by Lucia Moore
- 1954 - Best Historical Novel: "Journey by the River" by John Prescott
- 1955 - No Award given
- 1956 - Best Historical Novel: "Generations of Men" by John Clinton Hunt
- 1957 - Best Historical Novel: "Silver Mountain" by Dan Cushman
- 1958 - Best Historical Novel: "The Fancher Train" by Amelia Bean
- 1959 - Best Historical Novel: "The Buffalo Soldier" by John PrebbleJohn PrebbleJohn Edward Curtis Prebble, FRSL, OBE was an English/Canadian journalist, novelist, documentarian and historian. He is best known for his studies of Scottish history.-Early life:...
- 1960 - Best Historical Novel: "From Where the Sun Now Stands" by Will HenryHenry Wilson AllenHenry Wilson Allen was an American author and screenwriter. He used several different pseudonyms for his works. His 50+ novels of the American West were published under the pen names Will Henry and Clay Fisher...
- 1961 - Best Historical Novel: "The Winter War" by William Wister HainesWilliam Wister HainesWilliam Wister Haines was an American author, screenwriter, and playwright. His most notable work, Command Decision, was published as a novel, play, and screenplay following World War II.-Personal history:...
- 1962 - Best Historical Novel: "Moontrap" by Don BerryDon Berry (author)Don Berry was an American artist and author best known for his historical novels about early settlers in the Oregon Country.He was born in Minnesota but moved to Oregon as a young man and came to think of himself as a native of that state. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon...
- 1963 - Best Historical Novel: "Gates of the Mountains" by Will Henry (2)
- 1964 - Best Historical Novel: "Indian Fighter" by F.F. Halloran
- 1965 - Best Historical Novel: (tied) "Gold in California" by Todhunter BallardTodhunter BallardWillis Todhunter Ballard was a Cleveland, Ohio-born American author, known for his Westerns and mystery novels.-Pseudonyms:...
& "Mountain Man" by Vardis FisherVardis FisherVardis Alvero Fisher was a well-respected writer best known for historical novels of the old West and the monumental 12-volume Testament of Man series of novels, depicting the history of humans from cave to civilization.... - 1966 - Best Historical Novel: "Hellfire Jackson" by Garland RoarkGarland RoarkGarland Roark was an American author best known for his nautical/adventure fiction. Published in 1946, his first novel Wake of the Red Witch was a Literary Guild selection and later adapted by Republic Pictures as a movie starring John Wayne.- Life :In his own words:"I was born in Groesbeck, Texas...
& Charles Thomas - 1967 - Best Historical Novel: "The Wolf is My Brother by Chad OliverChad OliverSymmes Chadwick Oliver was an American science fiction and Western writer and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin...
- 1968 - Best Historical Novel: "The Red Sabbath" by Lewis B. PattenLewis B. PattenLewis Byford Patten was a prolific author of American Western novels, born in Denver, Colorado. He often published under the names Lewis Ford, Len Leighton and Joseph Wayne. He used the last two names when writing in collaboration with Wayne D...
- 1969 - Best Historical Novel: "The White Many Road" by Benjamin Capps
- 1970-71 No Award given
- 1972 - Best Historical Novel: "Chiricahua" by Will Henry (3)
- 1973-75 No Award given
- 1976 - Best Historical Novel: "The Kincaids" by Matt BraunMatt BraunMatt Braun is an author specializing in fictional stories of the American West. He has written fifty-six books, most of which are in the Western genre and has over 40 million copies in print....
- 1977 - Best Historical Novel: "Swimming Man Burning" by Terrence Kilpatrick
- 1978-80 No Award given
- 1981 - Best Historical Novel: "Aces and Eights" by Loren D. EstlemanLoren D. EstlemanLoren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter....
- 1982 - Best Historical Novel: Ride the WindRide the WindRide the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson is the story of Cynthia Ann Parker's life after she was captured during the Comanche raid on her family's fort. In 1836, when she was nine years old, Cynthia was kidnapped by Comanche Indians. This is the story of how she grew up with them, mastered their...
by Lucia St. Clair RobsonLucia St. Clair Robson-Literary biography:Lucia St. Clair Robson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. She has been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Venezuela, a teacher in New York City, and a librarian in Annapolis, Maryland. She has also lived in Japan, South Carolina, and Arizona... - 1983 - Best Historical Novel: "Sam Bass" by Bryan Woolley
- 1984 - Best Historical Novel: "Gone the Dreams and Dancing" by Douglas C. JonesDouglas C. JonesDouglas Clyde Jones was an American author of historical fiction, including alternative history fiction. As a boy, he had lived for a time in Fort Smith, Arkansas, adjacent to former Indian territory....
- 1985 - Best Historical Novel: "The Snowblind Moon" by John Byrne CookeJohn Byrne CookeJohn Byrne Cooke is an American author, musician, and photographer. He is the son of Alistair Cooke, and the great-grandnephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson....
- 1986 - Best Historical Novel: "Roman" by Douglas C. Jones (2)
- 1987 - Best Historical Novel: "Wanderer Springs" by Robert FlynnRobert Flynn (author)Robert Flynn is an author and professor emeritus at Trinity University.-Styles and themes:Flynn's early fame came with the novel, North to Yesterday, which was a national bestseller. In Don Quixote fashion, it mocked the legend of the cowboy in Western novels while paying homage to it at the same...
- 1988 - Best Novel of The West: "The Homesman" by Glendon SwarthoutGlendon SwarthoutGlendon Fred Swarthout was an American writer.-Life:Glendon Swarthout was the only child of Fred and Lila Swarthout, a banker and a homemaker. Swarthout is a Dutch name from the area around Groningen, in the Netherlands, and his mother’s maiden name was Chubb, from English farmers of Yorkshire...
- 1989 - Best Novel of The West: "Panther In The Sky" by James Alexander ThomJames Alexander ThomJames Alexander Thom is an American author, most famous for his works in the Western genre and colonial American history; known for their historical accuracy borne of his painstaking research. Born in Gosport, Indiana, he graduated from Butler University and served in the United States Marine Corps...
- 1990 - Best Novel of The West: "Home Mountain" by Jeanne Williams
- 1991 - Best Novel of The West: "The Medicine Horn" by Jory Sherman
- 1992 - Best Novel of The West: "Slaughter" by Elmer KeltonElmer KeltonElmer Stephen Kelton was an American journalist and writer, known particularly for his Western novels.-Biography:...
- 1993 - Best Novel of The West: "Empire of Bones" by Jeff Long
- 1994 - Best Novel of The West: "The Far Canyon" by Elmer Kelton (2)
- 1995 - Best Novel of The West: "Stone Song: A Novel of The Life of Crazy Horse" by Win Blevins
- 1996 - Best Novel of The West: "Sierra" by Richard S. WheelerRichard S. WheelerRichard S. Wheeler is the award-winning novelist of over sixty books about the American West, including the Barnaby Skye series of novels...
- 1997: W.W.A.Western Writers of AmericaWestern Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...
changed the time-frame from 'year published' to 'year award presented' - 1998 - Best Novel of The West: "Comanche MoonComanche MoonComanche Moon is a 1997 western novel by Larry McMurtry. It is the fourth and final book published in the Lonesome Dove series, but the second installment in terms the chronology of the narrative.-Plot introduction:...
" by Larry McMurtryLarry McMurtryLarry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas... - 1999 - Best Novel of The West: "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton" by Jane SmileyJane SmileyJane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained an A.B. at Vassar College, then earned an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the...
- 2000 - Best Novel of The West: "Prophet Annie" by Ellen Recknor
- 2001 - Best Novel of The West: "The Gates of The Alamo" by Stephen HarriganStephen HarriganStephen Harrigan is an American writer, known primarily for his 2000 historical novel The Gates of the Alamo. He was born in Oklahoma City in 1948, grew up in Texas and currently lives in Austin. Harrigan began his career as a journalist, as a staff writer and later senior editor at Texas Monthly...
- 2002 - Best Novel of The West: "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint" by Brady UdallBrady UdallBrady Udall is an American novelist. In 2010, he was appointed Writer-in-Residence of Idaho, a position he will hold until 2013.-Biography:Udall grew up in a large Mormon family in St. Johns, Arizona. He graduated from Brigham Young University and later attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the...
- 2003 - Best Novel of The West: "Perma Red" by Debra Magpie EarlingDebra Magpie EarlingDebra Cecille Magpie Earling is an Native American novelist, and short story writer.-Life:She is of the Bitterroot Salish ....
- 2004 - Best Novel of The West: "So Wild A Dream" by Win Blevins (2)
- 2005 - Best Novel of The West: "People of The Raven" by Kathleen O'Neal GearKathleen O'Neal GearKathleen O'Neal Gear is an American writer. Gear is a former state historian and archaeologist for Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska for the U.S. Department of the Interior. She has twice received the federal government's Special Advancement Award for "outstanding management" of our nation's cultural...
and W. Michael GearW. Michael GearW. Michael Gear is an American writer, and archaeologist born in Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 20, 1955. He is perhaps best known for his First North Americans series, co-authored with wife Kathleen O'Neal Gear.-Biography:... - 2006 - Best Novel of The West: "High Country: A Novel" by Willard Wyman (which also won for Best First Novel)
- 2007 - Best Western Long Novel: "The Night Journal" by Elizabeth Crook
- 2008 - Best Western Long Novel: "The God of AnimalsThe God of Animals-Plot:Alice Winston, a twelve-year-old girl, struggles with her place in the world the summer after her sister runs away from home and marries a rodeo cowboy. Her mother—bedridden because of postpartum depression—hasn't left her bedroom since Alice was an infant, and her father is failing to keep...
" By Aryn KyleAryn KyleAryn Kyle is an American novelist and short story writer.-Life:Kyle was born in Peoria, Illinois and grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado... - 2009 - Best Western Long Novel: "Shavetail" by Thomas CobbThomas CobbThomas Cobb may refer to:*Thomas R. Cobb , U.S. Representative from Indiana*Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb , American lawyer, author, politician, and Confederate general*Thomas W...
- 2010 - Best Western Long Novel: "Echoes of Glory" by Robert Flynn (2)
- only five authors have won it on more than one occasion: Will Henry (3): 1960, 1963, 1972; (2) each for: Win Blevins 1995, 2004; Robert Flynn 1987, 2010; Douglas C. Jones 1984, 1986; Elmer Kelton 1992, 1994