__NOTOC__ John Richard Erickson (born October 20, 1943) is an American

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, best known for his

Hank the Cowdog ''Hank the Cowdog'' is a long-running, ongoing series of children's books written by John R. Erickson and illustrated originally by Gerald L. Holmes, and later by Nikki Earley. The books follow Hank, a dog that views himself as the "Head of Ra ...

series of children's novels. Born in

Midland, Texas Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States. A small part of Midland is in Martin County. At the 2020 census, Midland's population was 132,524. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas metropolitan ...

, he was reared in Perryton in the northern

Texas Panhandle The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...

. He graduated in 1966 from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and spent two years at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

. He began publishing short stories in 1967, while still working as a cowboy and ranch manager in Texas and Oklahoma. Hank and Drover are both dogs he'd worked with at the ranch. In 1982, after receiving numerous rejection slips from large publishers, Erickson borrowed $2,000 and began his own publishing company, Maverick Books. Hank the Cowdog debuted in ''The Cattleman'' magazine, and two related short stories appeared in the first book published by Maverick Books, ''The Devil in Texas''. Erickson began selling books out of his pickup truck wherever cowboys gathered. Erickson soon found himself receiving letters addressed to Hank, and so, the next year, in 1983, he published the first full-length book in the series, ''The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog''. His 2,000-book first printing ran out in six weeks. With the book's success, he shortly afterward recorded the book, word-for-word, on audio tape. Hank the Cowdog has since become the longest-running successful children's series on audio. That book has since spawned over seventy sequels, becoming one of the most popular children's fiction series, selling more than 7.5 million books and winning several awards. The full series of books and tapes are usually available in most school libraries around the United States. His books are endorsed by the

Texas Library Association The Texas Library Association (TLA) is a charitable non-profit group that promotes libraries in Texas. It was founded in 1902. TLA is affiliated with the American Library Association (ALA) and has more than 6,000 members made up of librarians and ...

and have, for two years, been serialized in ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

''. His "Hank the Cowdog" series has been translated into

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

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, and

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, and have sold over 8.5 million copies. Erickson has written over seventy books, and is frequently invited to perform, reading book selections and singing songs, in classrooms and school libraries. He lives in Perryton with his wife.

Life and career

He was born John Richard Erickson in Midland, Texas on October 20, 1943. His parents were Joseph W. Erickson and Anna Beth Curry Erickson.Christian Wallace
How Hank the Cowdog Made John R. Erickson the King of the Canine Canon
''Texas Monthly'', March 2021 In 1946 the family moved to Perryton in the Texas Panhandle. John Erickson attended school in Perryton and upon graduation studied at the University of Denver for a year. He then attended the University of Texas, where he met his future wife Kristine. They were married in 1967. Erickson later went to

but walked away a few credits short of graduating. After leaving Harvard, Erickson began working as a cowboy and ranch manager on various ranches in Texas and Oklahoma. In 1982 he set up his own publishing company, Maverick Books, and began writing the Hank the Cowdog stories. On March 6, 2017, Erickson's ranch home was destroyed in the fires that swept across more than 315,000 acres of the Texas Panhandle. Upon his loss from the blaze, he quoted

Scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

: "Naked we came into this world and naked we will leave it," and added, "but we will sure miss that house." His property is south of Perryton in Roberts County. In the books, Hank is "Head of Ranch Security" of an unnamed ranch in nearby Ochiltree County.

Bibliography

As of January 2024, there are 80 printed books in the Hank the Cowdog series, 7 audio-only titles, and 6 CDs of music from the audiobooks. Erickson has also written a number of non-Hank books. * ''Through Time and the Valley'' (1978). Shoal Creek Publishers, Maverick Books, and University of North Texas Press. * ''Panhandle Cowboy'' (1980). With a preface by Larry McMurtry. University of Nebraska Press and University of North Texas Press. * ''The Modern Cowboy'' (1981). University of Nebraska Press and University of North Texas Press. * ''The Devil in Texas and Other Cowboy Tales'' (1982). Maverick Books and Gulf Publishing Company. * ''Cowboys Are Partly Human'' (1983). Maverick Books and Gulf Publishing Company. * ''Alkali County Tales'' (1984). Maverick Books and Gulf Publishing Company. * ''The Hunter'' (1984). Doubleday and Company. * ''Ace Reid: Cowpoke'' (1984). Maverick Books. * ''Essays on Writing and Publishing'' (1985). Maverick Books. * ''Cowboys Are Old Enough To Know Better'' (1986). Maverick Books and Gulf Publishing Company. * ''Cowboys Are a Separate Species'' (1986). Maverick Books and Gulf Publishing Company. * ''Cowboy Country'' (1986). Maverick Books. * ''Cowboy Fiddler'' (1992). With Frankie McWhorter. Texas Tech Press and University of North Texas Press. * ''Horse Fixin’: Forty Years of Working With Problem Horses'' (1992). With Frankie McWhorter. Texas Tech Press * ''Catch Rope—The Long Arm of the Cowboy'' (1994). University of North Texas Press. * ''LZ Cowboy: A Cowboy’s Journal 1979-81'' (1999). University of North Texas Press. * ''Some Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys: A Collection of Articles and Essays'' (1999). University of North Texas Press. * ''Friends: Cowboys, Cattle, Horses, Dogs, Cats, and Coons'' (2002). University of North Texas Press. * ''Prairie Gothic: The Story of a West Texas Family'' (2005). Foreword by Elmer Kelton. University of North Texas Press. * ''Moonshiner’s Gold'' (2001). Viking-Penguin and Maverick Books. * ''Discovery At Flint Springs'' (2003). Viking Press and Maverick Books. * ''Story Craft: Reflections on Faith, Culture, and Writing'' (2009). Introduction by

Gene Edward Veith Gene Edward Veith (born October 15, 1951) is an author, scholar, and Professor of Literature emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1979. Additionally, he holds honorary doctorates fro ...

and foreword by Nancy Pearcey. Maverick Books. * ''Fear’s Return'' (2011). Maverick Books. * ''Ranch Life Series, Book One: Ranching and Livestock'' (2016). Maverick Books.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erickson, John R. 1942 births Living people People from Midland, Texas People from Roberts County, Texas People from Perryton, Texas American male writers Writers from Texas University of Denver alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni Culture of Amarillo, Texas Hank the Cowdog Ranchers from Texas