#1. For eight years this explorer traveled across what is now known as the American Southwest and northern Mexico before reconnecting with Spanish civilization. Early in his journeys, he was shipwrecked either on or near present-day Galveston. Upon his return home, the chronicles of his experiences were published in 1543. The narrative Relación, is commonly known as the most notable work relating to Texas.
#2. This twentieth-century author was born in Indian Creek, Texas; her childhood home in Kyle, Texas, is now a literary center. She was a journalist before writing short stories, essays and short works of fiction. Although she is best known for her short story collections, it was after publication of her novel Ship of Fools that she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a National Book Award, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal Award for Fiction.
#3. This author is perhaps the most well-known folklorist of Texas. He was a journalist, teacher, ranch manager, and life-long proponent for the heritage, culture and traditions of rural life in Texas and the Southwest. He is probably most well-known for his book The Longhorns and is credited for helping to save the Longhorn breed.
#4. An author, freelance writer, and historian who grew up in Houston, he is an Air Force/Vietnam veteran, and a Journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. As a sportswriter, he started his career at the Houston Post and has written for the Austin American-Statesman, and Yahoo Sports. His groundbreaking first book, Black College Football, 1892-1992 is the only book that comprehensively documents the history of football programs at historically black colleges.
#5. The author of twenty-nine novels, collections of essays and more than thirty screenplays, this native Texan’s work is noted for being set in the Old West, contemporary small towns and more frequently in urbanized and industrial areas of Texas. In the late 1980s he opened a bookstore in his hometown and eventually had four storefronts. His most widely known for The Last Picture Show and Lonesome Dove.
#6. A native of San Antonio, a university professor and internationally acclaimed Chicana writer, she served as the poet laureate off San Antonio and was named the Poet Laureate of Texas. She has written more than thirty books and won multiple literary awards. A writer of both poetry and prose, she has deepened multicultural perspectives and challenged various stereotypes. Her works include The Holy Tortilla and a Pot of Beans: A Feast of Short Fiction and This River Here: Poems of San Antonio.
#7. A native of Crane and longtime resident of San Angelo, he was an agriculture journalist, editor of Sheep and Goat Raiser and retired from Livestock Weekly. Author of over 50 Western novels, this writer was recognized as the Greatest Western Writer of all time by the Western Writers of America, Inc. His works include The Day the Cowboys Quit, The Time it Never Rained, and The Good Old Boys.
#8. He moved to Texas to cure a cough and learned ranching, shepherding and bits of Spanish and German. Convicted of embezzlement, he served time in a federal prison. His former home in Austin is now a museum. Writing under a pseudonym, his short stories are known for wit, wordplay and clever twist endings. Two of his most popular stories are The Gift of the Magi and “The Ransom of Red Chief.
