Jory Sherman (Cort Martin) began his literary career as a poet in San Francisco’s famed North Beach in the late 1950s, during the heyday of the Beat Generation. His poetry and short stories were widely published in literary journals when he began writing commercial fiction. He has won numerous awards for his poetry and prose and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Letters for his novel, Grass Kingdom. He won a Spur Award from Western Writers of America for The Medicine Horn. He has also won a number of awards from the Missouri Writers Guild, and other organizations.

Jory is a life member of Missouri Writers Guild and Ozarks Writers League. He is the current recipient of the highest award presented by Western Writers of America, the Owen Wister Award, granted for lifetime achievement.

Jory T. Sherman is the 2013 recipient of the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature.