2017 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame class

Terri Farley, a Northern Nevada best-selling author, was inducted in the 2017 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame class.

Farley’s books are about the contemporary and historic West. “Wild at Heart: Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them,” non-fiction published by Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt, is a Junior Library Guild selection winner of the Sterling North Heritage award for Excellence in Children’s Literature and has been honored by Western Writers of America, National Science Teachers Association and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her Phantom Stallion (HarperCollins) series for young readers and Seven Tears into the Sea (Simon and Schuster) have sold over two million copies in 27 countries. She has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno. Farley has taught middle and high school language arts and journalism in inner-city California and Reno.

Michael Branch, author of more than 200 essays, articles, and five books, was named this year’s Silver Pen recipient.

Branch’s works including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated “John Muir’s Last Journey: South to the Amazon and East to Africa” and “Raising Wild: Dispatches from a Home in the Wilderness.” His creative nonfiction includes pieces that have received Honorable Mention for the Pushcart Prize and been recognized as Notable Essays in The Best American Essays, The Best Creative Nonfiction, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He is the professor of literature and environment in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he cofounded the nation’s first graduate program in literature and environmental studies.