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Created page with "{{Infobox person | name=Patrick March Dearen (Western author of fiction and history based in Midland, Texas) | image=Patrick Dearen of TX.jpg | caption=Western author Patrick..."
{{Infobox person
| name=Patrick March Dearen
(Western author of fiction and history based in Midland, Texas)
| image=Patrick Dearen of TX.jpg
| caption=Western author Patrick Dearen (2014)
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
|birth_date=May 1, 1951
|birth_place=Sterling City, [[Texas]]
|death_date=
|death_place=
|death_cause=
|resting_place=
|spouse=Mary Gilda Dearen<br>
One son, Wesley Joseph Dearen
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/patrick-dearen/e162819157062|title=Patrick Dearen|publisher=mylife.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref><br>
'''Alma mater''':<br>
Sterling City High School<br>
[[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]
|website=http://patrickdearen.com/
}}
'''Patrick March Dearen''' (born May 1, 1951) is an [[author]] of twenty-five Western-themed books of [[fiction]] and [[history]]. His 2012 [[novel]], ''To Hell or the Pecos,'' is set along a desolate 79-mile section of the John Butterfield Trail in the Pecos River country of West [[Texas]].<ref>Patrick Dearen, ''To Hell or the Pecos', [[Fort Worth]]: [[Texas Christian University]] Press, 2012, ISBN 9780875655055</ref> ''To Hell or the Pecos'' is the 2014 winner of the Elmer Kelton Book Award from the West Texas Historical Association. It also received the Spur Award
==Background==
Dearen was born and reared in Sterling City, Texas, between [[San Angelo, Texas|San Angelo]] and [[Big Spring, Texas|Big Spring]]. His father, Delbert Dearen (1912-1998), and his mother, the former Thyra Violet Sparkman (1918-1974), are interred at Montvale Cemetery in Sterling City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=81112898|title=Thyra Violet Sparkman Dearen|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref>
Dearen graduated in 1969 from Sterling City High School, at which one of his teachers had encouraged him in January 1966, while in his freshman year, to consider a career in writing. In 1974, he earned a bachelor's degree in [[journalism]] from the [[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]. His mother, Thyra, died that same year at the age of fifty-six. At her encouragement, young Dearen read [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''Tarzan of the Apes'' that also played a role in his interest in becoming a writer. He won nine national and state awards as a reporter for two daily newspapers, ''The San Angelo Standard-Times'' and the ''Midland Reporter-Telegram,'' of which his wife, Mary Gilda Dearen (born 1955), is the managing editor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mrt.com/author/mary-dearen/|title=Mary Dearen|publisher=mrt.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref>
<ref name=pdearen>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/552975.Patrick_Dearen|title=Patrick Dearen|publisher=goodreads.com|accessdate=April 12, 2014}}</ref>
==Writing career==
Dearen is an authority on the Pecos and Devils rivers, which nearly meet at Lake Amistad, and on the tenets of old-time [[cowboy]] life in West Texas. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he conducted oral histories] of seventy-six men who had been cowboys prior to 1932. These interviews, along with decades of archival study, enrich his novels and nonfiction books. One of those novels, ''Perseverance'',<ref>Patrick Dearen, ''Perseverance'' (Eakin Press, 2006) ISBN 9781571682352.</ref> is a story of hobos riding the railroad tracks of Texas during the [[Great Depression]].<ref name=pdearen/> He is also known for his interest in [[folklore]] and writes to please both professional historians and general readers.
Other Dearen works include:
===1980s===
''Starflight to Faroul'' (1980) ISBN 9780505516008<br>
''The Illegal Man'' (Leisure Books, 1981) ISBN 9780786212385
===1990s===
''Portraits of the Pecos Frontier'' ([[Texas Tech University Press]], 1993, revised 1999, with foreword by Elmer Kelton)<br>
''When Cowboys Die'' (1995) ISBN 078381514X; nominated for Spur Award from the Western Writers Association.<br>
''A Cowboy of the Pecos'' (1996) ISBN 978-1556225284<br>
''Crossing Rio Pecos'' (1996) ([[Chisholm Trail]] series) ISBN 0-87565-159-3, includes the story of [[Horsehead Crossing]] in [[Crane County, Texas|Crane County]]<br>
''The Last of the Old-Time Cowboys'' (1998) ISBN 978-1-55622-613-7
===2000 to 2004===
''Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier'' (2000) (Chisholm Trail series, with foreword by Elmer Kelton)<ref>{{cite book|url=cite web|url=http://www.tamupress.com/product/Castle-Gap-and-the-Pecos-Frontier,2345.aspx|title=Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier|year=2000|isbn=978-0-87565-030-2|publisher=Texas Christian University Press|date=2000|accessdate=April 12, 2014}}</ref><br>
''Halff of Texas: Merchant Rancher of the Old West'' (Eakin Press, 2000) ISBN 9781571684363<br>
''Comanche Peace Pipe'' (Lone Star Heroes, Book I, 2001, Illustrated by Alan McCuller, ISBN 1556228317)<br>
''On the Pecos Trail'' (Lone Star Heroes, Book 2, 2001, illustrated by Alan McCuller)<br>
''The Hidden Treasure of the Chisos'' (2001) (Lone Star Heroes, Book 3, ISBN 978-1-55622-829-2)<br>
''When the Sky Rained Dust'' (Eakin Press, 2004) ISBN 978-1571688309, a novel of the depression Dust Bowl
===The most recent===
''Saddling Up Anyway: The Dangerous Lives of Old-Time Cowboys'' (2006) ISBN 978-1-58979-223-4<br>
''Lone Star Lost: Buried Treasures in Texas'' (2009) ISBN 978-0875653921<br>
''Devils River: Treacherous Twin to the Pecos, 1535-1900'' (2011) ISBN 978-0-87565-423-2<br>
''Starflight to Destiny, Part I'' (2013) ISBN 9781310894114<br>
''Starflight to Eternity, Part II'' (2013)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Apatrick+dearen&keywords=patrick+dearen&ie=UTF8&qid=1397276307|title=Books by Patrick Dearen|publisher=amazon.com|accessdate=April 12, 2014}}</ref>
''The Bigl Drift,'' 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patrickdearen.com/authorbio.html|title=Patrick Dearen|publisher=patrickdearen.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref>
Dearen was named the runner-up in 2013 for the [[Will Rogers]] Medallion from the Academy of Western Artists for his novel ''To Hell or the Pecos''. He has also been honored for his work by the Western Writers of America, the [[San Antonio]] Conservation Society, and the Permian Historical Association. Dearen enjoys backpacking and playing ragtime on the piano. He is the father of son, Wesley Joseph Dearen (born 1990), the first reader of his father's books.<ref name=pdearen/>
In 2015, another Dearen novel, ''The Big Drift'' (2014), won the Elmer Kelton Fiction Book of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://jellybooks.com/books/patrick-dearen/the-big-drift/jb8wn4swygq|title=The Big Drift|publisher=[[Texas Christian University]] Press|location=Fort Worth, Texas|date=2014|pages=192|isbn=9780875655703|accessdate=January 30, 2015}}</ref> He received his award on March 28 at ceremonies in Irving, Texas. ''The Big Drift'' also won the Spur Award in 2015.<ref name=pdearen/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dearen, Patrick}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:American Authors]]
[[Category:Novelists]]
[[Category:Historians]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
| name=Patrick March Dearen
(Western author of fiction and history based in Midland, Texas)
| image=Patrick Dearen of TX.jpg
| caption=Western author Patrick Dearen (2014)
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
|birth_date=May 1, 1951
|birth_place=Sterling City, [[Texas]]
|death_date=
|death_place=
|death_cause=
|resting_place=
|spouse=Mary Gilda Dearen<br>
One son, Wesley Joseph Dearen
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/patrick-dearen/e162819157062|title=Patrick Dearen|publisher=mylife.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref><br>
'''Alma mater''':<br>
Sterling City High School<br>
[[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]
|website=http://patrickdearen.com/
}}
'''Patrick March Dearen''' (born May 1, 1951) is an [[author]] of twenty-five Western-themed books of [[fiction]] and [[history]]. His 2012 [[novel]], ''To Hell or the Pecos,'' is set along a desolate 79-mile section of the John Butterfield Trail in the Pecos River country of West [[Texas]].<ref>Patrick Dearen, ''To Hell or the Pecos', [[Fort Worth]]: [[Texas Christian University]] Press, 2012, ISBN 9780875655055</ref> ''To Hell or the Pecos'' is the 2014 winner of the Elmer Kelton Book Award from the West Texas Historical Association. It also received the Spur Award
==Background==
Dearen was born and reared in Sterling City, Texas, between [[San Angelo, Texas|San Angelo]] and [[Big Spring, Texas|Big Spring]]. His father, Delbert Dearen (1912-1998), and his mother, the former Thyra Violet Sparkman (1918-1974), are interred at Montvale Cemetery in Sterling City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=81112898|title=Thyra Violet Sparkman Dearen|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref>
Dearen graduated in 1969 from Sterling City High School, at which one of his teachers had encouraged him in January 1966, while in his freshman year, to consider a career in writing. In 1974, he earned a bachelor's degree in [[journalism]] from the [[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]. His mother, Thyra, died that same year at the age of fifty-six. At her encouragement, young Dearen read [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''Tarzan of the Apes'' that also played a role in his interest in becoming a writer. He won nine national and state awards as a reporter for two daily newspapers, ''The San Angelo Standard-Times'' and the ''Midland Reporter-Telegram,'' of which his wife, Mary Gilda Dearen (born 1955), is the managing editor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mrt.com/author/mary-dearen/|title=Mary Dearen|publisher=mrt.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref>
<ref name=pdearen>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/552975.Patrick_Dearen|title=Patrick Dearen|publisher=goodreads.com|accessdate=April 12, 2014}}</ref>
==Writing career==
Dearen is an authority on the Pecos and Devils rivers, which nearly meet at Lake Amistad, and on the tenets of old-time [[cowboy]] life in West Texas. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he conducted oral histories] of seventy-six men who had been cowboys prior to 1932. These interviews, along with decades of archival study, enrich his novels and nonfiction books. One of those novels, ''Perseverance'',<ref>Patrick Dearen, ''Perseverance'' (Eakin Press, 2006) ISBN 9781571682352.</ref> is a story of hobos riding the railroad tracks of Texas during the [[Great Depression]].<ref name=pdearen/> He is also known for his interest in [[folklore]] and writes to please both professional historians and general readers.
Other Dearen works include:
===1980s===
''Starflight to Faroul'' (1980) ISBN 9780505516008<br>
''The Illegal Man'' (Leisure Books, 1981) ISBN 9780786212385
===1990s===
''Portraits of the Pecos Frontier'' ([[Texas Tech University Press]], 1993, revised 1999, with foreword by Elmer Kelton)<br>
''When Cowboys Die'' (1995) ISBN 078381514X; nominated for Spur Award from the Western Writers Association.<br>
''A Cowboy of the Pecos'' (1996) ISBN 978-1556225284<br>
''Crossing Rio Pecos'' (1996) ([[Chisholm Trail]] series) ISBN 0-87565-159-3, includes the story of [[Horsehead Crossing]] in [[Crane County, Texas|Crane County]]<br>
''The Last of the Old-Time Cowboys'' (1998) ISBN 978-1-55622-613-7
===2000 to 2004===
''Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier'' (2000) (Chisholm Trail series, with foreword by Elmer Kelton)<ref>{{cite book|url=cite web|url=http://www.tamupress.com/product/Castle-Gap-and-the-Pecos-Frontier,2345.aspx|title=Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier|year=2000|isbn=978-0-87565-030-2|publisher=Texas Christian University Press|date=2000|accessdate=April 12, 2014}}</ref><br>
''Halff of Texas: Merchant Rancher of the Old West'' (Eakin Press, 2000) ISBN 9781571684363<br>
''Comanche Peace Pipe'' (Lone Star Heroes, Book I, 2001, Illustrated by Alan McCuller, ISBN 1556228317)<br>
''On the Pecos Trail'' (Lone Star Heroes, Book 2, 2001, illustrated by Alan McCuller)<br>
''The Hidden Treasure of the Chisos'' (2001) (Lone Star Heroes, Book 3, ISBN 978-1-55622-829-2)<br>
''When the Sky Rained Dust'' (Eakin Press, 2004) ISBN 978-1571688309, a novel of the depression Dust Bowl
===The most recent===
''Saddling Up Anyway: The Dangerous Lives of Old-Time Cowboys'' (2006) ISBN 978-1-58979-223-4<br>
''Lone Star Lost: Buried Treasures in Texas'' (2009) ISBN 978-0875653921<br>
''Devils River: Treacherous Twin to the Pecos, 1535-1900'' (2011) ISBN 978-0-87565-423-2<br>
''Starflight to Destiny, Part I'' (2013) ISBN 9781310894114<br>
''Starflight to Eternity, Part II'' (2013)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Apatrick+dearen&keywords=patrick+dearen&ie=UTF8&qid=1397276307|title=Books by Patrick Dearen|publisher=amazon.com|accessdate=April 12, 2014}}</ref>
''The Bigl Drift,'' 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patrickdearen.com/authorbio.html|title=Patrick Dearen|publisher=patrickdearen.com|accessdate=December 28, 2021}}</ref>
Dearen was named the runner-up in 2013 for the [[Will Rogers]] Medallion from the Academy of Western Artists for his novel ''To Hell or the Pecos''. He has also been honored for his work by the Western Writers of America, the [[San Antonio]] Conservation Society, and the Permian Historical Association. Dearen enjoys backpacking and playing ragtime on the piano. He is the father of son, Wesley Joseph Dearen (born 1990), the first reader of his father's books.<ref name=pdearen/>
In 2015, another Dearen novel, ''The Big Drift'' (2014), won the Elmer Kelton Fiction Book of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://jellybooks.com/books/patrick-dearen/the-big-drift/jb8wn4swygq|title=The Big Drift|publisher=[[Texas Christian University]] Press|location=Fort Worth, Texas|date=2014|pages=192|isbn=9780875655703|accessdate=January 30, 2015}}</ref> He received his award on March 28 at ceremonies in Irving, Texas. ''The Big Drift'' also won the Spur Award in 2015.<ref name=pdearen/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dearen, Patrick}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:American Authors]]
[[Category:Novelists]]
[[Category:Historians]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Republicans]]