'alfred bertram guthrie, jr. (january 13, 1901 &ndash; april 26, 1991) was an american novelist, screenwriter, historian, and literary historian who won the pulitzer prize for fiction during 1950 for his novel the way west. the author called himself "bud" because he felt that alfred bertram was "a sissy name." ==biography== a. b. guthrie, jr. was born in bedford, indiana, and relocated with his parents to montana when he was six months old. his father was a graduate of indiana university, his mother from earlham college at richmond, indiana. "my father came west to become the first principal of the first high school in the montana territory," he said. nine guthrie children were born, but most of them died as infants. a.b. was a sickly child and the guthries relocated their children to ontario, california, for their health. two months later their 13-year-old daughter died from a tick bite and the guthries relocated back to montana. there, some months later, their youngest son also died. only three of the nine children survived to adulthood. a constant reader, guthrie tried to write while in high school, "fiction pretty much, some essays, but i majored in journalism. my father had been a newspaper man for four years in this little town in kentucky, and i guess he thought it was the way to become a writer," an idea his son disputed because the crafts are so different. he attended the university of montana, where he was a member of phi sigma kappa fraternity. guthrie won the nieman fellowship from harvard, while working as the executive editor of the newspaper lexington leader in kentucky. while at harvard he made friends with theodore morrison, an english professor, "who knew so much about writing, probably more than i ever will. and somehow, he took me under his wing. with patience and guidance and always deliberation, he taught me the language of fiction." after working 22 years as a news reporter and editor for the lexington leader, guthrie wrote his first novel. during 1944 he had been attempting to write the story of the mountain men. "it wasn't until i went to harvard that i got in gear. then i went back and worked for the newspaper for another year or so." guthrie's boss was very understanding and as long as guthrie performed his news duties satisfactorily he was allowed to take his afternoons off to write fiction. he was able to quit his reporting job after the publication of the novels [[the 
1901_births 1991_deaths 20th-century_American_novelists American_environmentalists American_historians American_literary_critics American_male_novelists Nieman_Fellows People_from_Great_Falls,_Montana Pulitzer_Prize_for_Fiction_winners Writers_from_Indiana Writers_from_Kentucky Writers_from_Montana