Welcome to Jane Little Botkin
Nationally recognized author Jane Little Botkin scours the West for firsthand sources in family, library, and museum collections, melding personal narratives of American families with compelling stories of western women, labor radicals, miners, lawmen, and outlaws in settings rich with a history that transitions into the New West. Her works are respected for their unique subjects, detail, depth, honesty, and narrative style.
Winner of two Western Writers of America (WWA) prestigious Spur Awards and two Women Writing the West's (WWW) Willa Literary Awards; two Caroline Bancroft History Prize Awards from the Denver Public Library; the Barbara Sudler Award for best book written on the West by a Woman from History Colorado; the Texas Nonfiction Book Award and Colorado Humanities Book Award; Oklahoma Book Award, Sarton Book Book Award, and High Plains Book Award finalists; Independent Publisher Book Award; two Foreword Indies Book Awards; and the WWW's Downing Literary Award for best short nonfiction.
I am honored to announce
The Breath of a Buffalo, The Life of Mary Ann Goodnight
will release in early 2027 from the University of Oklahoma Press.
Pre-orders will be available in late 2026!
Please visit Events on the Menu to see what's coming up in 2026.
Jane Little Botkin talks about writing and her books
Current Conversations
Growing up with ASARCO, EL Paso, TX
The University of Oklahoma Press recently released a new book that certainly caught my attention. Copper Stain, by Elaine Hampton and Cynthia C. Ontiveros, should be an excellent read. I was raised on El Paso’s northeast side but moved near ASARCO (the west side) after I turned 18. The smelter’s community plays a small role in my book Frank…
Jane Street and the Rebel Maids: Sex, Syndicalism, and Denver’s Capitol Hill
Moving along quickly on my new book, that is what I can tell you. Hence my absence from the blog! This is what I can share with you: In the course of my research for writing Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood That Stained an American Family, I came across Jane Street, a “feisty, little housemaid” who uniquely…
Anniversary of the Everett Massacre
Today is the anniversary of a horrific incident (which seems too mild of a word to use), where innocent men lost their lives at the hands of vigilantes who disagreed idealogically. The Everett Massacre reminds us Americans how we have a capacity to turn thoughtless, ugly, really, when it comes to our divisions. Today, we still have not…