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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A Cherokee novelist and poet was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 20th annual Oklahoma Book Awards April 4.

Robert J. Conley

Cushing native Robert Conley was presented with the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for a body of work contributing to Oklahoma’s literary heritage.

Conley, 69, has written more than 70 books and won many awards, including three Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America.

Most of Conley’s writing deals with Cherokee characters, culture and themes. His “Real-People” series traces Cherokee history, beginning in the year 1500.

Conley’s most recent works include “The Peace Chief” and “War Woman.”

“I’ve been told that getting this (award) doesn’t mean I can quit writing, and that’s good, because I still have a lot more to do,” Conley, who is the Sequoyah Distinguished Professor in Cherokee Studies at Western Carolina University, said before the ceremony.

The Oklahoma Book Awards competition drew 159 entries and the winners were chosen from 35 finalists.

Other winners included “What Dogs Want for Christmas” in the illustration category. The work is by Kandy Radzinski of Tulsa and published by Sleeping Bear Press, Chelsea, Mich.

Carolyn Wall picked up the fiction award for her debut novel, “Sweeping Up Glass,” about the mysterious killing of wolves in rural Kentucky in the 1930s.

In poetry, Norman poet Nathan Brown won for “Two Tables Over,” which was published by Village Books Press.

The event was sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Book, part of the state Libraries Department and a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.