UC Davis Professor Louis Owens, an internationally acclaimed novelist and a scholar of Steinbeck and Native American literature, died July 25 in Albuquerque at age 54.

Considered the country's leading critical interpreter of Native American literature, Owens received several top book awards for his fiction and scholarly work, had his novels translated into other languages and most recently participated in a lengthy interview on national television about his Steinbeck scholarship during the centennial celebration of the Salinas Valley writer.

Owens was the author of five novels-one of which, Nightland, won the American Book Award in 1997, four books of literary criticism and a new collection of essays, I Hear the Train. His academic career spanned two decades and five universities. Most recently, he was a professor of English and Native American studies and headed UC Davis' Creative Writing Program.

"His writing is really important in American literature, overall," said Luci Tapahonso, a Native American poet and professor of American Indian studies and English at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "He challenged people to rethink their approaches and touched on topics that hadn't been considered before."

Unusual background

The fact that Owens, who received his doctorate in English from UC Davis, had returned to the campus two years ago as a professor was remarkable, said UC Davis English department colleague Jack Hicks.

"Often academic departments do not hire their own; his coming back was extraordinary, by any standard," said Hicks, pointing to Owens' many accomplishments and accolades, including an invitation from Harvard University to spend a year there in 2004 as a scholar-in-residence. Just this spring, Owens' own work was the subject of a book, Grave Concerns, Trickster Turns: The Novels of Louis Owens, by Chris LaLonde.

Born in Lompoc to migrant laborers, Owens spent his childhood moving between Mississippi and the Central Valley. He has written of that period in an essay called "Finding Gene," about the adventures he had with his brother.

Of the nine brothers and sisters in the Owens family, Louis and Gene were the only two who completed high school and Louis was the only sibling to go to college.

His mentor, UC Davis Professor Emeritus James Woodress, said Owens was first drawn to the work of John Steinbeck because he knew intimately the life and history of the Salinas Valley. "Because Louis came from very poor parents who were farm laborers, novels like The Grapes of Wrath moved him a great deal," Woodress said.

Prolific writer

Owens' first book, John Steinbeck's Re-Vision of America, was published in 1985, followed by The Grapes of Wrath: Trouble in the Promised Land in 1989. In May he was the subject of a lengthy interview on C-Span regarding John Steinbeck and his literary legacy.

He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in English from UC Santa Barbara before coming in 1978 to UC Davis for his doctorate. During graduate school, Owens and his wife spent a year in Pisa while Owens taught at the University of Pisa as a Fulbright Lecturer.

Throughout his career, Owens was known for being extraordinarily prolific. Even in graduate school, while not working on his Steinbeck dissertation, Owens wrote his first novel, Wolfsong about copper strip-mining in Washington State's Glacier Peak Wilderness, where he had worked as a ranger and firefighter for the Forest Service.

Native American roots discovered

It was through this first novel, published in 1991, that Owens explored his Choctaw and Cherokee roots, said Hicks.

"It was then that I found he was Native American. Quite clearly, to write a whole novel about one's heritage indicates it is alive in your life and your imagination," Hicks said. "By the end of the first book, being Native American was something that was alive for him."

Owens, who considered himself a mixed-blood American, explored the dilemmas of being from multiple heritages through much of his writing - both in fiction and non-fiction. He won a Wordcraft Circle Writer of the Year Award in 1998 for Mixedblood Messages: Literature, Film, Family, Place.

In his novels, Owens said he wrote to two audiences: mainstream readers and his Choctaw and Cherokee relatives. He wove in layers of Native American metaphor and myth through his complex mystery plots, so that two stories were being told at the same time.

One of the awards he displayed proudly in his office was the 1995 Roman Noir Prize, a French award for the outstanding mystery novel published in French given to The Sharpest Sight. His novels were translated into French, German and Japanese, and he appeared on French television more than once.

Lauded for teaching

Owens was also a dedicated teacher who mentored and encouraged his students and other writers.

"He gave an incredible amount of time to his students, time spent on reading and critiquing their work ... and working out the myriad problems that are associated with the scholastic life, and time offered in the spirit of camaraderie and friendship," said Spring Warren, a 2002 graduate of the UC Davis Creative Writing Program.

Among the many recognitions for teaching that he received were the University of New Mexico Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence, the University of California Santa Cruz Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award, the UCSC Student Alumni Council Favorite Professor Award, and the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from the International Steinbeck Society.

From 1992 to 2000, Owens served on the faculty of UC Davis' Art of the Wild, a summer writing workshop on nature and the environment that drew nationally acclaimed writers.

Owens is survived by his wife of 27 years, Polly; and his daughters, Elizabeth, 19, and Alexandra, 16, all of Tijeras, N.M.; his father Hoey; his brothers Gene, Troy and Richard; and his sisters Judy, Linda, Juanita, and Brenda.

• campus memorial service is being planned for fall quarter.