KTWU Sunflower Journeys 1712A - Don Coldsmith
Produced by Bill Shaffer
Narrator: Don Coldsmith was born in Iola, Kansas. The son of a Methodist minister, who moved the family around the Midwest about every three years, Don grew up with an interest in writing, but it was not to be developed until much later in his life. He worked as a doctor in Emporia for over thirty years, during which time he also raised cattle and horses and a family and managed to write magazine articles and later a newspaper column. Max Yoho, Author, Topeka: Wherever I go for a book signing, I almost always meet someone who says (or) who tells me, 'Don delivered me' - of course, Don was a doctor for many years - 'Don delivered me or Don delivered all my babies.' Don's still delivering...just a different product. Denise Low, Professor of English, Haskell Indian Nations University: Don Coldsmith's books really are innovative. When he first started doing this, nobody had really looked at the western genre as including a Native perspective and he researched very carefully among Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Blackfeet tribes and he did careful research to try to be accurate and respectful. Don Coldsmith: What I really wanted to do was write some of my grandfather's stories. He came out to homestead at the age of twelve in the 1860's and I grew up listening to his stores and I wrote that book, but it never sold. It never found a home, but in the process of talking to a Doubleday editor, I mentioned our rich history in this part of the country and the fact that the great plains have history going way back earlier than the east coast even...and this editor was kind of fascinated by that so I was leading him on. He'd already turned me down on the other book so I told him about finding a Spanish ring bit and he said 'why I didn't know the Spanish were that active in there' and I said, 'Oh, yeah, if that bit could talk, couldn't it tell us a story?' and he set his coffee down and leaned across the desk and he said, 'I want you to write me that story.' so this became Trail of the Spanish Bit I still didn't want to write this historical American Indian stuff. I didn't think I did yet, but they kept calling and 'well, how about a sequel? How about another sequel?' We were about five books in before the Doubleday editor that I was working with by that time said, 'Don, let's get serious. Do you want to make this a series?' and, by that time I knew enough to say 'sure' and so this is how that got started. Denise Low: His works are important because they are innovative in regards to presenting (a) Native point of view and a history that is not just that narrow cattle-drive couple of decades, but rather going clear, all the way back to contact in...almost 1492.
Don Coldsmith: One of the old timers once told me just to know your character thoroughly and then put him in the worst situation you can think of and see how the hell he gets out of it and this is really...I do this to some extent. Then at the opposite end is to research the historical event and then go at it from that end. Denise Low: His work is important to Kansans and Midwesterners because he really shows the sweep of geography from Colorado Springs and the rockies east to the Marais des Cygnes and from the Platt down into northern Oklahoma so you really get a sense of this region and there is not much literature in the country or the world based on that geographic region. Don Coldsmith: "I write longhand. I love to have other writers ask me what kind of a word processor do you use because I'll say 'well (pulls pencil out of pocket), this one says Hanson Chemo Fertilizer. It doesn't anymore. It's worn off, but this is my magic pencil. It's done about six novels. We have a lady who works for me, who used to be my office manager. She runs the computer. My office equipment is in her basement office and we each work at home so we don't waste time visiting. We get together every day or so for an hour and exchange the work we've done. I hand he handwritten copy. She hands me back manuscript from yesterday.
Narrator: Inspired by other western writers like Louis Lamour, Don was recently the recipient of the Owen Wister award presented by the Western Writers of America Guild. Narrator: Don still raises cattle and, after 31 books in the Spanish Bit saga, 3 books of newspaper columns and several spin off novels, he continues to write new adventures.
Denise Low: I have Kiowa friends, who are great fans of his and who appreciate his work and his ability to provide that perspective and he's of course very honest to make it clear he is not of Native ancestry himself, but as a non-Native, he does want to show respect for those cultures..
This transcript is from KTWU's Sunflower Journeys 2004 season. A production of: |
