Nationality American Spouse Sue Hart | Name Richard Wheeler Role Author | |
 | ||
Occupation Writer
Newspaper editor
Book editor Genre Western literature
Historical fiction Notable works "Barnaby Skye" book series Alma mater University of Wisconsin-Madison Awards Spur Award for Best Western Novel Books Skye's West, The Richest Hill on Earth, The Far Tribes, An obituary for Major Reno, The Buffalo Commons | ||
Richard Shaw Wheeler is an American author and former newspaper editor. He is best known for his novels set in the American West, including the "Barnaby Skye" series. Wheeler was the 2001 recipient of the Owen Wister Award for lifetime contributions to Western literature, and is a six-time Western Writers of America Spur Award winner.
Contents
Early life
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Richard Wheeler was raised in the suburb of Wauwatosa in a family descended from New England Puritans. Following graduation from Wauwatosa High School in 1953, Wheeler moved to California in the mid-1950s for three years. At first intending to be a playwright, he studied at the Pasadena Playhouse, later taking acting lessons and trying his hand at being a screenwriter. While in California he supported himself by working in a Hollywood record store and as a freelance photographer. Meeting with little success, he returned to his native Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Professional career
Wheeler returned to the west after attending the University of Wisconsin, working at a succession of newspapers including the Nevada Appeal, Phoenix Gazette, Oakland Tribune, and Billings Gazette. In 1972 he switched careers and became a book editor for a number of publishers, most notably Walker & Company. Inspired by both the westerns he was editing and the frequent layoffs in the industry which left him with free time, Wheeler penned his first novel, Bushwhack, published by Doubleday in 1978. He wrote five more novels in the 1970s and 1980s while still working as a book editor, before turning his attention to writing full-time in 1987. Two years later he won the first of five Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America with his 1989 book, Fool's Coach. His novel, Rendezvous and Dark Passage, was published by Tor Books in 2015 and Easy Pickings in 2016; his earlier novels, The Far Tribes and Yellowstone, were collected together as an omnibus edition.
Personal life
Wheeler was married to Sue Hart, a professor at Montana State University Billings, who died in the summer of 2014. The couple divided their time between homes in Livingston, Montana, on the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park, and Billings, Montana.