James D. Houston


James Dudley Houston was an American novelist, poet and editor. He wrote nine novels and a number of non-fiction works.

Early life

Houston was born in San Francisco, where his parents had migrated from Quanah, Texas, a small town named for the noted last Comanche war chief, Quanah Parker. The story behind the town's name kindled Houston's interest in treks and history. He graduated from Lowell High School. He did college studies at San Jose State University and Stanford University. At San Jose State, Houston met Jeanne Wakatsuki, his future wife. Her family had immigrated to California from Japan.

Literary career

Houston co-authored his wife's autobiographical memoir, Farewell to Manzanar, about her family's experiences in the Manzanar internment camp during World War II. The book became a bestseller after it was published in 1973.
Houston was the winner of two American Book Awards, a Joseph Henry Jackson Award for Fiction and the Humanitas Prize.
Houston's historical novel Snow Mountain Passage was inspired by a personal link to the ill-fated Donner Party of early Californian history. A second historical novel, Bird of Another Heaven, explores California's beginnings, based on the history of Nani Keala, daughter of a Native American mother and Native Hawaiian father. She was one of a small group who went up the Sacramento River with John Sutter in 1839 and helped build the eponymous fort.

Works

Houston died of complications of lymphoma, aged 75, in Santa Cruz, California. He is survived by his widow and their three children: Joshua Houston, Corinne Houston Traugott, and Gabrielle Houston Neville.