Craig Johnson On His Popular Character Walt Longmire

Robert Lang offers a Q&A with author Craig Johnson at the Cowboy Lifestyle Network.

Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for fiction, the Nouvel Observateur Prix du Roman Noir, and the Prix SNCF du Polar. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 26.

Robert: I have read all the novels, novellas, and short stories. My family looks forward to receiving an email from you on Christmas for your annual Christmas story. I have watched the Longmire series more times than I can count, I have been at many of your speaking events, and I just attended Longmire Days for the first time. In short, I am a BIG fan. But, who is Walt Longmire?

Craig: In essence, he stands in opposition against injustice, a vertical figure in a horizontal landscape. I’ve often referred to the beauty and vastness of the American West as pulling at the corners of your eyes, and I think Walt is a part of that. When I first started writing crime fiction, everything in the genre was noir–gritty, urban, alcoholic, divorced detectives, just not the folks I knew in law enforcement. I thought, what if you wrote about the sheriff of the least populated county in the least populated state in the country, a contemporary man who harkens back to Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey—not perfect, but a guy who tries. 

You can read the rest of the interview via the below link:

Q & A with Craig Johnson, Author of the Longmire Series (cowboylifestylenetwork.com)

You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on Craig Johnson below:

  

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