WELCH, James (Phillip) 1940-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born 1940, in Browning, MT; died of a heart attack August 4, 2003, in Missoula, MT. Author. Welch was a poet and novelist who wrote books that drew on his Native-American background and concern for native culture and history. Educated at the University of Montana, he received his bachelor's degree in English there and also attended graduate courses at Northern Montana College. His first book was a poetry collection, Riding the Earthboy Forty (1971), and though he later switched to prose, critics would comment that his writing maintained a poetic quality. Welch went on to write several more books, which, though critically praised in America, were even more popular in Europe, where they were frequently published in translation. These works include Winter in the Blood (1974), Fools Crow (1986), which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association book award, The Indian Lawyer (1990), and The Heartsong of Charging Elk (2000). He also wrote the nonfiction title Killing Custer: The Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians (1994), which he penned after working on a PBS documentary on the subject. After establishing himself as an author, Welch became a popular lecturer and was a visiting professor at Cornell University and the University of Washington.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, August 8, 2003, section 1, p. 11.

Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2003, p. B12.

New York Times, August 9, 2003, p. A12.

Washington Post, August 8, 2003, p. B6.