Kansas' historical authors literally a fun, award-winning lot
12 a.m. Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Kansas has a wealth of writers, from internationally known authors such as Langston Hughes and Gordon Parks, to science fiction writer James Gunn and murder mystery writer Rex Stout.
Susan Marchant, manager of Special Collections at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, says Kansas writers got a hot start during the territory days with Edward Hale. He wrote the first book about Kansas in an attempt to bring in people to help make the territory a free state. Hale embellished just a little.
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You can call the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Topeka Room at (785) 580-4510, or go online at www.tscpl.org. Another good source of Kansas authors is the Kansas Center for the Book, Kansas Author Database at skyways.lib.ks.us.
Some books by Kansas authors:
- The Moon Butter Route by Max Yoho
- The Darkest Dawn by Thomas Goodrich
- Eyes With Winged Thoughts by Gordon Parks
- Return to Titanic by Robert Ballard
- Cracks in the Rainbow by Mark Bouton
"He lied a bit. He said we had running rivers and lots of towns and trees and things. And we didn't. But we like to think of it as marketing. And eventually we did," said Susan.
Within an eight-year period during the 1990s, Kansas authors won all major literary awards.
Richard Rhodes won a Pulitzer Prize for writing about the humanistic side of making the atomic bomb. James Ellroy won an Oscar for L.A. Confidential. The movie Black Dahlia was based on his book of the same name.
"His mother was murdered in Los Angeles and he's been writing these kind of true crime things ever since. It obviously impacted him greatly," said Susan.
Other authors with a Hollywood connection include Richie Tankersley Cusick, who wrote books to go along with the Buffy, The Vampire Slayer television series. And Max McCoy, whose been selected to write the novels to go along with the new Indiana Jones movie.
One of our most famous internationally known authors is Topekan Charles Sheldon.
"He took the world view of what would Jesus do. And the book is called "In His Steps." It is considered one of the single most published books ever. And I think it follows very closely behind Gone With The Wind and the Bible," says Susan.
Susan says we should be proud of our Kansas authors because they are our heritage.
"We always get hit over the head with the Wizard of Oz, but it's so much more than that. At least three Topekans have won Pulitzers, I believe. So we need to know our heritage, where we come from. And besides that, they're darn good reads. They're fun! So enjoy a good Kansas author," says Susan.
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