Acclaimed author Don Coldsmith dies

[cascadiance]

Source: Emporia Gazette

By Patrick Kelley (Contact)
Thursday, June 25, 2009

Western author Don Coldsmith of Emporia died Thursday, June 26, at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. He had suffered a stroke last week.

Coldsmith, who was 83, parlayed the chance find of a relic on the prairie into a series of 29 novels about the Native Americans of the Great Plains before the coming of the Europeans. The Spanish Bit Saga was popular with American readers and was translated into other languages. He was a past president of the Western Writers of America and in 1990 won the organization’s Golden Spur award for his novel “The Changing Wind.” In 2003, the group named him recipient of its Owen Wister Award.

Jim Hoy, fellow writer, lecturer and teacher at Emporia State University, said Coldsmith had a talent for connecting to his readers, even when writing about unfamiliar cultures.

“As a writer, he was just a really good storyteller,” Hoy said. “He had a real knack for universalizing …”

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Read more: http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2009/jun/25/acclaime... /

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This looks like it might be the last death of known persons on a day that has been depressing for many of us...





http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/don-coldsmith /

[dysfunctional press]

1. he sure picked the wrong day for it.

[WhiteTara]

2. my best friend's husband

died yesterday also.He thought it was a sinus infection and a few days later, he was dead. He wasn't even 60.