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Meet the Author — Willard Thompson

Dream Helper is the first in Willard Thompson's Chronicles of California series of historical novels. Thompson
is an award-winning writer, lecturer and historian living in Montecito, California.

Thompson was awarded The Sara Miller McCune Award by the John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts to write Dream Helper, which also won an award as a work in progress at the Santa Barbara Writers' Conference.

In addition to historical fiction, Willard Thompson also writes non-fiction. Recent published articles are: Walter Vail — Empire Builder, Published in Persimmon Hill Magazine; The Last Cattle Drive, published in Range Magazine; Dividing the Waters, a brief history of Western water woes and the role John Wesley Powell played in the development of the West, also in Range Magazine. Running the Big Ditch, an account of a gofer's life on a commercial raft running the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, published in Westways Magazine and Forbidden Fruit, an account of three days on the El Paso border working with the Border Patrol to intercept smugglers.

Thompson's manuscript, Montecito Adobes and the Settlers who built Them will be published by the Santa Barbara Historical Museum in 2008.

Thompson regularly writes, produces and presents multi-media shows on historic subjects to civic and social groups. The following shows are currently available: Culture Clash-the Chumash Indians at the Santa Barbara Mission; Troubled Waters-—Shipwrecks of the Santa Barbara Channel; 450 Years of Santa Barbara Histor; The history of the Masini Adobe; History and Architecture of Montecito Country Club; and Postcards from Paradise-—a whimsical look at Santa Barbara in the 1920s. Click here to arrange a Willard Thompson presentation for your group.

Willard Thompson is a docent at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, Santa Barbara Historical Society, Arroyo Hondo Preserve. Member of Pearl Chase Society and member of its Preservation Committee. Previously a freelance trade journalist and owner/editor/publisher of two California farm magazines. Click here to see a schedule of his upcoming appearances. He is a graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, NY