About Jane Little Botkin

NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR and 5TH GENERATION TEXAN      

Jane is a member of various historical associations and professional organizations, including Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America, serving as the latter's past vice-president on its board of directors. Jane judges entries for the WWA's prestigious Spur Award, reviews new releases, and writes articles for Roundup Magazine and other periodicals. Her August 2024 Roundup article, “How to Write an Honest Biography,” won the Women Writing the West’s Downing Journalism Award.

A late-bloomer, Jane served as a public-school teacher for thirty years before turning to historical investigation and writing. In 2008 the Texas State Legislature honored her career in education and publication of historical journals by formal resolution. Now Jane blissfully escapes into her literary world in the remote White Mountain Wilderness near Nogal, New Mexico.

Published Works

Scholarly Biography

Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood That Stained an American Family. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2017).

The Girl Who Dared to Defy: Jane Street and the Rebel Maids of Denver. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2021)

The Breath of a Buffalo, A Biography of Mary Ann Goodnight. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2027).

Local Histories

Fitzhugh Cemetery, Fitzhugh, Texas: If Tombstones Could Talk. Dripping Springs, TX: Heritage Circle, 2015. 

Phillips Cemetery, Tombstone Tales. Dripping Springs, TX: Heritage Circle, 2014.

Voices of the Past: Driftwood Cemetery, Driftwood, TX. Dripping Springs, TX: Heritage Circle, 2012.

Wallace Mountain Cemetery, Dripping Springs, TX: If Tombstones Could Talk! Dripping Springs, TX: Heritage Circle, 2011.

Memoir

The Pink Dress, A Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen (She Writes Press, 2024)

Short Fiction

“A Death on the Concho,” published in Through Western Storms, Richard Prosch, ed. (Lohman Hills Creative 2024)

Articles

“Quanah Parker and Charles Goodnight: An Enduring Friendship” Roundup Magazine (April 2025)

“Remembering Marty Robbins and the Ballad That Influenced a City,” Roundup Magazine (October 2024)

“Writing an Honest Biography” (feature story), Roundup Magazine (August 2024)

Editing

A Historical Collection of Dripping Springs and Hays County. 15 Vols (Student Compilation Publications). 1992-2008.

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