Lucia St. Clair Robson to Receive 2016 Owen Wister Award

ENCAMPMENT, Wyo. – Lucia St. Clair Robson, whose 1982 historical novel “Ride the Wind” won the Spur Award and remains in print 34 years after its publication, will receive the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature.

The award, given by Western Writers of America, as the nonprofit writers guild’s highest honor, will be presented during the organization’s annual convention June 25 in Cheyenne.

Ride the Wind tells the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped by Comanche Indians as a child in Texas in 1836, married a Comanche leader and gave birth to a son, Quanah, who became the last chief of the Comanche Nation. A native of Florida, Robson wrote the novel while working as a public librarian in Maryland. She has followed that New York Times bestseller with eight other historical novels, including Ghost Warrior, about the Apache woman warrior Lozen, and Last Train From Cuernavaca, a 2010 Spur Award winner set during the Mexican Revolution.

“Lucia St. Clair Robson has a unique ability to immerse herself and her readers in unfamiliar cultures, which she brings to life with a rare accuracy and sensitivity,” said Kirk Ellis, the Emmy Award-winning writer of the HBO miniseries “John Adams” and incoming president of Western Writers of America. “Lucia matches unparalleled storytelling skills with a profound sympathy and understanding for people too often left on the margins of Western fiction. Her continued desire to explore uncharted territory makes her a worthy recipient of the WWA’s highest award.”