Judy Blunt Editor

Joaquina Ballard Howles was born and raised on a ranch in rural Nevada north of Winemucca. After graduating from Mills College in Oakland, she married Jeffrey Howles, a British oil executive, and lived in Alberta, Canada, and London. She published her second novel, Brighter Later in 2020, 54 years after No More Giants.

Judy Blunt is professor of English and director of the creative writing program at the University of Montana. She spent 30 years on ranches in Montana, which she has written about in her Willa Award-winning memoir Breaking Clean.

Nancy Cook is a professor emerita for the University of Montana. Raised on sheep ranches, she has written extensively on ranching life, environmental issues, and the literature of the American West.