C.W. Smith (bn 1940) recently received The Lon Tinkle Award for "sustained excellence in a career" from the Texas Institute of Letters. He has published nine novels, a memoir, and a collection of stories, and his 11th book, the novel Steplings, will appear in Fall of 2011. In addition to his published novels and short stories, his nonfiction pieces and journalism have appeared in many magazines and periodicals, including Esquire, Texas Monthly, and many others. He is a former Dobie-Paisano Fellow at the University of Texas and a two-time grantee of National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in creative writing. He belongs to PEN, the Author's Guild, the Writer's Guild of America, West (emeritus), and The Texas Institute of Letters. He's a kayak fanatic and a bicycling enthusiast who lives in Dallas with his wife, Marcia. He has one old dog, two grown children, 3 growing grandkids. He was once a jazz tenor player and still runs some riffs in his sleep.More information at http://cwsmiththeauthor.com and at http://facebook.com/CWSmiththeauthorWikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.W._Smith