A best-selling author from Texas will be appearing in central Iowa tonight. Sidney Thompson is perhaps best known for telling the true-life story of one of the American West’s first African American lawmen, who’s the focus of a new TV miniseries.
Thompson will be at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, where Jan Danielson Kaiser is the events coordinator.
“Sidney teaches African American Literature and Creative Writing at Texas Christian University,” Kaiser Danielson says, “and he uses that expertise to write all of these amazing books.”
Thompson’s latest books are called, “Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves,” “Hell on the Border,” and “The Forsaken and the Dead.”
“He wrote the Bass Reeves trilogy,” she says, “which is used and they’re the basis for the miniseries ‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ that’s on Paramount+.”
Reeves was a real person and set himself apart from others early in his law enforcement career. He became the most successful lawman of the 19th century, putting more men behind bars than any of his counterparts.
“He was born into slavery and escaped and lived in Indian Territory,” Kaiser Danielson says, “and then he served in the Civil War and he became the first black U.S. Marshal in the West. He’s known for arresting over 3,000 fugitives.”
Thompson will be doing a reading at 6:30 PM at the bookstore, followed by a question-and-answer session.