James Welchย (1940 โ 2003) was the author of the novelsย Winter in the Blood,ย The Death of Jim Loney,ย Fools Crowย (for which he received theย Los Angeles Timesย Book Prize, an American Book Award, and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award),ย The Indian Lawyer, andย The Heartsong of Charging Elk. ย Welch also wrote a nonfiction book,ย Killing Custer: The Battle of the Little Bighornย and theย Fate of the Plains Indians, and a work of poetry,ย Riding the Earthboy 40. He attended schools on the Blackfeet and Fort Belknap reservations in Montana, graduated from the University of Montana, where he studied writing with the late Richard Hugo, and served on the Montana State Board of Pardons.
James Tateโs honors include a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Poetry and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.