W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear to receive Western Writers of America's Owen Wister Award

ENCAMPMENT, Wyo., Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The international bestselling writing team of W. Michael and Kathleen O'Neal of Cody, Wyo., will receive the 2021 Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature, Western Writers of America (www.westernwriters.org) has announced.

The Gears, best known for their prehistory series of novels, will also be inducted into the Western Writers Hall of Fame, housed outside the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

"For more than three decades, Kathleen and Michael Gear have been bringing the past to vivid life with their books about the indigenous peoples. Both individually and as a writing team, their work stands out for its focus and readability," WWA President Chris Enss said. "The Wister Award was created for such talent."

Added WWA Executive Director Candy Moulton: "Michael and Kathleen, with their careers in archaeology and as award-winning bison ranchers, bring extraordinary understanding and passion to everything they write, whether the subject involves the prehistory of America or the genetics of bison."

The nonprofit guild's highest honor is scheduled to be presented during WWA's convention June 16-19 in Loveland, Colorado.

The Gears, who live in Cody, won a Spur Award for their novel People of the Raven in 2005; their People of the Moon and Moon Hunt: People of Cahokia were Spur finalists in 2006 and 2018; and Michael's novel This Scorched Earth was a Spur finalist in 2019.

Kathleen has more than 200 nonfiction publications in the fields of archaeology, history and bison conservation and has authored or co-authored 47 international bestsellers. Michael has written 20 novels under his own name and authored another 37 with Kathleen. The Gears' newest jointly written book is People of the Canyons.

Since the early 1950s, WWA has honored and promoted all forms of literature about the American West. Previous Owen Wister honorees include Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday; historians Eve Ball and Robert M. Utley; and bestselling novelists Rudolfo Anaya, Elmore Leonard, Tony Hillerman and Lucia St. Clair Robson.

The Wister Award is a bronze statue of a bison created especially for WWA by artist Robert Duffie.

SOURCE Western Writers of America

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