caption birth_place nationality notableworks name birth_date alt language genre image article_title birth_name occupation
craig johnson in 2011 huntington , west virginia american '' company '' , '' kindness goes unpunished '' , '' the another man 's moccasins '' , '' the dark horse cold '' , '' junkyard dogs '' , '' hell is dish empty '' '' , '' death without craig johnson 16 january 1961 close-up on craig johnson english mystery , crime fiction , detective , western craig johnson in toulouse in 2011 022-edit . jpg craig johnson -lrb- author -rrb-
 craig allen johnson novelist
craig johnson -lrb- author -rrb-

craig allen johnson -lrb- born january 16 , 1961 -rrb- is an american novelist and playwright .
he lives in ucross , near buffalo , wyoming , population 25 .
as of march 2015 , johnson has written thirteen novels and a number of short stories .
his sheriff walt longmire novels include `` the cold dish '' -lrb- first in the series -rrb- and `` the dark horse '' -lrb- which received starred reviews from `` kirkus , '' `` booklist , '' `` publishers weekly , '' and `` library journal , '' and was named one of `` publishers weekly '' 's best books of the year in 2009 -rrb- .
two longmire novels -lrb- `` the dark horse '' and `` the cold dish '' -rrb- were dilys award finalists , and another -lrb- `` death without company '' -rrb- was named the wyoming historical association 's book of the year .
other longmire novels to earn awards are `` another man 's moccasins '' -lrb- western writers of america spur award for best novel of 2008 and the mountains and plains award for fiction book of the year -rrb- and `` hell is empty '' -lrb- library journal 's mystery novel of the year -rrb- .
the former a&e tv series `` longmire '' -lrb- now on netflix -rrb- , based on johnson 's novels , premiered on june 3 , 2012 .
`` longmire '' debuted as a&e 's # 1 original-series premiere of all time with 4.1 million total viewers .
seasons are now available to view on netflix , with current and future seasons being produced by netflix as well .
johnson 's success is celebrated in an annual festival in buffalo , wyoming called longmire days .
the author himself , as well as many of the actors and -lrb- on occasion -rrb- the publishers and producers , attend this huge event .
close to 10,000 people visit this small town -lrb- the real life inspiration for durant -rrb- to meet craig and celebrate his success .
johnson was a board member of the mystery writers of america -lrb- mwa -rrb- .
