- In full:
- Elmore John Leonard, Jr.
- Byname:
- Dutch
- Born:
- October 11, 1925, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
- Died:
- August 20, 2013, Bloomfield township, Michigan (aged 87)
- Awards And Honors:
- Edgar Award (1984)
Elmore Leonard
What is Elmore Leonard known for?
Which of Elmore Leonard’s works were adapted into films?
What advice did Elmore Leonard give in his 10 rules for writing?
What honors did Elmore Leonard receive?
Elmore Leonard (born October 11, 1925, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.—died August 20, 2013, Bloomfield township, Michigan) was an American author of popular crime novels. He is known for his clean prose style, uncanny ear for realistic dialogue, effective use of violence, unforced satiric wit, and colorful characters. Dubbed “the Dickens of Detroit,” Leonard once summed up the secret of his success: “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
From westerns to crime fiction
Leonard and his family moved from New Orleans to Detroit when he was about nine years old. After high school he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve (1943–46), then graduated with a bachelor of philosophy degree from the University of Detroit (later called University of Detroit Mercy) in 1950. While composing scripts for advertising and educational films, he began writing western novels and short stories, beginning with The Bounty Hunters (1953). The films 3:10 to Yuma (1957, 2007) and The Tall T (1957) were based on his novelettes, and Leonard’s western novel Hombre (1961) was also adapted for film in 1967. He made a transition to the crime novel with the publication in 1969 of The Big Bounce (film 1969, 2004).
Novels and film adaptations
Having found his niche, Leonard produced a series of novels set primarily in Detroit and Florida. These usually featured working-class protagonists; dumb, larcenous ne’er-do-wells; piggish, sweaty villains; violent, out-of-control, sex-crazed brutes; and women in distress. Leonard’s villains are particularly colorful, while his protagonists, whether policemen, civilians, or honest criminals, provide his stories’ moral focus.
Among his outstanding crime novels of the 1970s are Fifty-two Pickup (1974; adapted as the films The Ambassador [1984] and 52 Pick-Up [1986]), Swag (1976; also published as Ryan’s Rules), Unknown Man No. 89 (1977), and The Switch (1978; adapted as the film Life of Crime [2013]). Leonard’s subsequent novels include the Edgar Award-winning LaBrava (1983), Stick (1983; film 1985), Glitz (1985; television movie 1988), Bandits (1987), Freaky Deaky (1988; film 2012), Rum Punch (1992; adapted as the film Jackie Brown [1997]), and Road Dogs (2009).
Other works that were made into movies include Killshot (1989; film 2008), Get Shorty (1990; film 1995), and Out of Sight (1996; film 1998). In addition, the short story “Fire in the Hole” served as the basis for the television series Justified (2010–15), which centers on a laconic U.S. marshal named Raylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant); the miniseries Justified: City Primeval aired in 2023. Givens was featured in several other books, and in 2012 Leonard published Raylan.
Rules for writing
In 2001 Leonard published 10 rules for writing. The list, which appeared in The New York Times, included such advice as “”Never open a book with weather,” “Keep your exclamation points under control,” and “Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.”
Lost novella
Picket Line, a “lost” novella that Leonard wrote in the early 1970s, was published in 2025. Centering on a strike by farmworkers in Texas, the story originated as a screenplay about a Cesar Chavez-like activist for film producer Howard Jaffe. The project was shelved, although some of the research for the screenplay, which Leonard repurposed into a novella, was used for his 1974 novel Mr. Majestyk.
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Honors
Leonard was the recipient of numerous honors, including the PEN Lifetime Achievement Award (2009) and the 2012 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. He also received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1992. Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard (2025) is a comprehensive biography by C.M. Kushins.