Williamson: Native author to visit library

Nathan Dahlstrom grew up nine miles west of Floyd, a 45-minute drive to the Portales Public Library, where his family regularly journeyed to check out “tremendous stacks of books.”

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Saturday he returns to that library as a thrice-published author of books about a 12-year-old boy not too much different than he was growing up.

“The Elk Hunt” (a finalist for the Lamplighter Award for excellence in Christian fiction), “Texas Grit” (a finalist for the Will Rogers Medallion for excellence in western writing), and “Wilder and Sunny” are the first three offerings in a series for young readers called, “The Adventures of Wilder Good.”

Nathan, who writes under the pen-name S.J. Dahlstrom, will be at the library from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, with a public reading set for 11 a.m.

“It feels wonderful to come back,” he said. “This very library nurtured who I am today.”

After graduating from Floyd High School in 1994, his life journey took him across several states before landing him in Lubbock, most recently as a creative writing and English teacher at Hutchinson, a fine arts magnet school for seventh and eighth graders.

Nathan has a life-long passion for both nature and the written word. A chance encounter a decade ago with John R. Erickson — author of the popular “Hank the Cowdog” series — gave him the push he needed to start taking his own writing seriously.

He met Erickson at a performance at Lubbock Christian School, and “we developed a fast friendship.” Nathan said he’s always believed that a master/apprentice relationship is the best way to learn, and Erickson became that master for him.

“He was the necessary ingredient to tell me that my writing was terrible, but to keep at it,” he said.

Keep at it he did. His first book was completed in 2010 and published in 2013 by Paul Dry Books, an independent publisher based in Philadelphia. His fourth, “The Green Colt,” is finished and scheduled for release in 2016.

“The Wilder books are truly for my kids,” Nathan said. In an era filled with a lot more screen-time than hours spent in the out-of-doors, “I want the books to document that there is another way to live. Nothing man has ever created can compare with a horny toad, or a bluebonnet, or a cottonwood tree, or a horse.”

Betty Williamson has a soft spot in her heart for new authors. You may reach her at: [email protected]