Crying Wind

Linda Stafford
Pen name	Crying Wind
Occupation	Writer
Subjects	American Indians
Literature portal

Linda Davison Stafford, also known as Crying Wind and April Knight is the author of several novels based on the years she claims to have spent living and working with Native Americans.

Publication and exposure

Stafford claimed to be a Kickapoo author and a convert to Christianity when she submitted her book Crying Wind^[1] (1977, Moody Press; 1978, London, Scripture Union). Soon, she was touring, promoting her book and giving her conversion testimony in churches and at conferences across the United States, dressed in what was supposed to be Indian garb.

In 1997, her publisher, Moody Press, investigated the author's claims of having grown up on a reservation, and withdrew her best-selling books from the market. The publisher revealed that her real name was Linda Davison Stafford. She was a white 1961 graduate of a middle-class predominantly-white high school in Woodland Park, Colorado. Her uncle Paul Hamlet confirmed that the family had no Native American ancestry, and did not use Native American names or dress.^[2][3]

She has authored, illustrated and contributed to more than fifty books, both fiction and non-fiction.^{[citation needed]} She also writes a regular column for Indian Life ^[4] a newspaper especially for Native Americans which is published in the US and Canada.

Her books, Crying Wind and My Searching Heart, have been translated into fifteen foreign languages.^{[citation needed]} Indian Life has published two of her books, When the Stars Danced and Thunder in Our Hearts Lightning in Our Veins under their imprint, Sequoyah Editions ^[5].

Publications

• Wind, Crying (1977), Crying Wind, Moody Press, ISBN 9780802416766 
• Wind, Crying (1980), My Searching Heart: A Biographical Novel, Harvest House, ISBN 9780890812624 
• Wind, Crying (2001), When the Stars Danced, Sequoyah Editions, ISBN 9780920379196, OCLC 49222023 

References

1. ^ Veach, Tucker. "A Remarkable Life" The Times-News April 20, 1978; p. 1
2. ^ "'Crying Wind' is Back, but Not as a Biography This Time". Christianity Today January 23, 1981; v. 25, p. 44
3. ^ Lindskoog, Kathryn Ann. Fakes, Frauds, & Other Malarkey: 301 Amazing Stories & How Not to be Fooled. 1993: Hope Publishing House; pp. 103-104
4. ^ http://www.indianlife.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=16&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=104&vmcchk=1&Itemid=104
5. ^ http://www.assistnews.net/strategic/s0111074.htm

Persondata
Name	Linda Stafford
Alternative names	Crying Wind
Short description
Date of birth	Novelist
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death