Author and rancher, Ed Ashurst, and his novel Stealin’ From The Neighbors were awarded the Hillerman award at the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards banquet held November 16, 2018 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Stealin’ From The Neighbors is a coming of age novel, set in the area around Prescott and Seligman, Arizona.
Ashurst, who was born in Wickenberg, Arizona, he is a working cowboy who has ridden and gathered cattle an horses on over seven thousand miles of the American West, while accumulating over 50 years of experience as a big ranch cowboy. He currently manages a large cattle ranch in southeastern Arizona.
Ashurst has also been involved in producing rodeos, horse shows and horse sales, and has competed in the rodeo arena for over 50 years. His books are about his life’s experiences covering different aspects and scenes that race across his vivid memory and water his fertile imagination. All he has written originates from stories that are well worn from being told many times.
In addition to his own experience, Ashurst is also becoming well known for his biographies, written about cowboys and ranchers throughout the West, such as Warner Glenn and Charlie Gould. Red Stegall has featured Ashurst’s books on his television program Somewhere West of Wallstreet and as well as his radio shows. Ashurst believes that storytelling is an art form that is no less important than painting or sculpting, and people say that his books read as if the storyteller is there. He is truly earning the title of the biographer of the American cowboy