Hal Borland wrote what he liked to think of as his “outdoor editorials” for the Sunday New York Times from 1941 until just before his death in 1978. Born on May 14, 1900, on the prairie in Nebraska, he grew up in Colorado, and then moved to New England in 1945. Borland brought to his writing both personal life experience with nature and the wisdom and ways of rural America.
Edwin Way Teale said the Mr. Borland’s “books are always like a breath of fresh country air.” Like his Sunday editorials, his outdoor books are essays which follow the seasons through the year: An American Year, Hill Country Harvest,Sundial of the Seasons, Seasons, Hal Borland’s Book of Days, Hal Borland’s Twelve Moons of the Year. Trained as a journalist, his writings report the daily news from the world of nature.
Mr. Borland also wrote four novels that include theme of nature and human’s relationship with nature. His most famous fiction is When Legends Die. The novel tells the story of Tom, a Ute Indian boy who is raised in the wilderness by his parents. They die when he is still young, so he adopts the old Ute ways, builds a lodge for himself, and lives off the land. However, neither the Utes nor the whites will leave him alone. Men from both communities use him for their own gain. Finally he returns to the mountains where he rediscovers himself and his roots. Other novels he wrote are The Amulet, The Seventh Winter, and King of Squaw Mountain.
Mr. Borland and his wife, Barbara, lived on a 100 acre farm, the site of an old Indian village in northwestern Connecticut. Mrs. Borland was also a writer and assisted her husband in his writing, too. Mr. Borland wrote many magazine articles, poems, essays, and stories as well as his many books.
Works of Hal Borland
An American Year
Beyond Your Doorstep
Sundial of the Seasons
The Enduring Pattern
Countryman: A Summary of Belief
Hill Country Harvest
Homeland: A Report from the Country
This Hill, This Valley
Seasons
High, Wide and Lonesome
Country Editor’s Boy
The Dog Who Came to Stay
Penny
The Sventh Winter
The Amulet
When the Legends Die
King of Squaw Mountain
Rocky Mountain Tipi Tales
The Youngest Shepherd
This World of Wonder
America is Americans
Our Natural World (Editor)
The Golden Circle
Borland Country
Hal Borland’s Book of Days
A Place to Begin
Hal Borland’s Twelve Moons of the Year