Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was a Texas-born author widely regarded as one of the finest writers the Western genre produced, distinguished for trading gunfighter mythology for the harder, more specific realities of ranching and farming life. Born on the Five Wells Ranch in Andrews County and a University of Texas graduate, Kelton spent his working life as an agricultural journalist -- farm and ranch editor of the San Angelo Standard-Times (1948-1963) and later associate editor of Livestock Weekly (1968-1990) -- writing fiction alongside a full-time career in the industry his novels depicted.

He published more than forty novels across roughly fifty years, including the Hewey Calloway books, the Rusty Shannon Texas Rangers series, and dozens of standalone Westerns; The Time It Never Rained (1973), about a rancher's stand against federal drought relief during the 1950s Texas drought, was voted the greatest Western novel of all time by the Western Writers of America. He won a record seven Spur Awards from that organization, four Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (including for The Time It Never Rained, The Good Old Boys, and The Man Who Rode Midnight), and the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement.

Kelton died in August 2009; his last solo novel, Texas Standoff, appeared the following year. Since his death, the Elmer Kelton Estate has authorized several writers -- including his son, Steve Kelton -- to continue the Hewey Calloway series under his name.