Bowling Green native Don Bullis has been selected as the New Mexico Centennial Author.
As designated author, Bullis takes his place with four other literary figures including N. Scott Momaday,
who was named the centennial’s distinguished writer.
According to the state’s Cultural Affairs Secretary Stuart Ashman: "The individuals chosen for these
honorary positions will highlight the importance of poetry, storytelling and literature to preserving
and disseminating the state’s heritage and rich cultures."
The selected writers’ work will be featured in the state’s libraries throughout 2011 and 2012 in
conjunction with the state’s centennial celebrations. New Mexico became a state on Jan. 6, 1912.
The writers were selected over the summer. The New Mexico State Library sought nominations, and then
those were reviewed by selection committees of scholars, writers, librarians and educators.
Bullis, a retired law enforcement officer, has written several non-fiction works including "Old West
Trivia Book," NM’s Finest: Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty" and two volumes of
"New Mexico: A Biographical Dictionary." He’s also written a novel "Bloodville."
Bullis attended Bowling Green State University from 1961 through 1967, accumulating, he said, two years
worth of credits. That was enough for him to get a job as a continuing substitute in a New Mexico school
teaching a combined fourth and fifth grade class.
He completed a degree in American history and literature at Eastern New Mexico University. He then went
to work on a small weekly newspaper, serving as editor for just over two years before going into law
enforcement.
Law enforcement paychecks, Bullis explained in a telephone interview, were better and more regular than
in small town journalism. He worked as a county sheriff’s deputy and detective sergeant, town marshal,
state organized crime commissioner and criminal intelligence operational supervisor. Bullis, however,
kept his hand in writing, continuing to write weekly columns for the Rio Rancho Observer.
When his readers requested he collect some of those columns in a book, he produced the "Old West
Trivia Book," and then "NM’s Finest."
"Bloodville" was his first published novel, though he noted that he, like most other writers,
has a half-dozen unpublished manuscripts stashed at home.
"Fiction’s a lot more fun than non-fiction," Bullis said, "because you have a whole lot of
latitude. You can whatever you please as a novelist."
He said the centennial honor was not a complete surprise. The retired schoolteacher who nominated him,
let him know she’d put his name in for the honor.
As originally planned, the centennial writers were to travel around the state promoting the centennial,
but budget woes have put those plans on hold.
Bullis, who is vice president of the Historical Society of New Mexico, serves on the centennial steering
committee. The extent of the program will be determined early this year.
In the meantime he’s working on a centennial third volume of "New Mexico: A Biographical
Dictionary," which will included revised entries from the first two volumes as well as new entries.
That book is due out in the middle of 2011.
Beside Bullis and Momaday, other writers selected were: poet Levi Romero; children’s author Vaunda
Micheaux Nelson; and storyteller Joe Hayes.