Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 - July 21, 1938) was an American writer of western novels. Owen Wister was born of old money in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a number of place names around Philadelphia trace to the Wister family. He attended schools in Switzerland and Great Britain, and studied at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Harvard University.

He worked as a bank clerk in New York, New York. He suffered poor health, spending much time in the western states of America. In 1885 he entered Harvard Law School, graduating in 1888. Wister practiced law in his home town Pennsylvania before devoting himself to writing. In 1898 he married Mary Channing, his cousin, and had six children.

His Wild West writing is what made him famous. A friend of Theodore Roosevelt, he often hung out in Wyoming (then still fairly wild; the Johnson County War took place in 1892) to get away from Eastern life.

Books and stories: Hank's Woman, The Virginian, Lady Baltimore and Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship. Poetry: Done In The Open

External links and references

• Article in Philadelphia Post-Gazette on Wister
• Books and Writers: Owen Wister