Stratton, W.K.

(William Kip Stratton)

PERSONAL: Married; wife's name, Luscaine.

ADDRESSES: Home—Austin, TX. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Harcourt, 6277 Sea Harbor Dr., Orlando, FL 32887.

CAREER: Freelance newspaper and magazine journalist.

WRITINGS:

Backyard Brawl: Inside the Blood Feud between Texas and Texas A & M, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 2002.

(Editor, with Jan Reid) Splendor in the Short Grass: The Grover Lewis Reader, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2005.

Chasing the Rodeo: On Wild Horse Rides, Broken Hearts and Broken Bones, and One Man's Search for the West, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2005.

Contributor to various periodicals, including Sports Illustrated, Gentleman's Quarterly, Outside, and Southern.

SIDELIGHTS: Texas-based writer W.K. Stratton worked for years as a journalist, both on newspapers and for magazines, before writing his first book, Backyard Brawl: Inside the Blood Feud between Texas and Texas A & M. The book examines the legendary rivalry between the two universities' football teams in an attempt to discover what is at the foundations of their long-time feud. He focused on the cultures of each locale, not just the history of the games, in order to give a new view of the ongoing rivalry. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews remarked that the book is "good-natured, intelligent, funny, and less bombastic than the title suggests," and Wes Lukowsky, reviewing for Booklist, called it "funny, intelligent, insightful, and just a little Texas crazy."

Splendor in the Short Grass: The Grover Lewis Reader collects Texas journalist Grover Lewis's magazine articles and a number of other short works into a single volume. Stratton served as coeditor on the work, along with Jan Reid. Chris Chang, writing for Film Comment, called the collection "a gloriously cracked mirror reflecting a not-so-golden age."

Chasing the Rodeo: On Wild Horse Rides, Broken Hearts and Broken Bones, and One Man's Search for the West examines the lives and experiences of the men and women who work on the rodeo circuit. Stratton's own father, whom he barely knew, was a rodeo rider, a connection that prompted Stratton to take on the topic. He covers the history of the sport as well as offering colorful descriptions of the events and the people involved. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book "a lively, earnest portrayal" that "demonstrates rodeo's rich tradition, and … vividly illuminates the trials both inside and outside the ring."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2002, review of Backyard Brawl: Inside the Blood Feud between Texas and Texas A & M, p. 193.

Film Comment, March-April, 2005, Chris Chang, review of Splendor in the Short Grass: The Grover Lewis Reader, p. 77.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2002, review of Backyard Brawl, p. 869; February 15, 2005, review of Chasing the Rodeo: On Wild Horse Rides, Broken Hearts and Broken Bones, and One Man's Search for the West, p. 221.

Library Journal, September 1, 2002, William O. Scheeren, review of Backyard Brawls, p. 184.

Publishers Weekly, March 7, 2005, review of Chasing the Rodeo, p. 57.

Texas Monthly, March, 2005, Mike Shea, review of Chasing the Rodeo, p. 72.