MITCHELL, W.O.

born March 13, 1914, Weyburn, Sask., Can. in full William Ormond Mitchell writer of stories that deal humorously with the hardships of western Canadian prairie life. Mitchell received favourable notice for his first novel, Who Has Seen the Wind? (1947), a sensitive picture of a grim prairie town seen from the point of view of a small boy. Mitchell's Jake and the Kid (1961) was later developed into a popular, long-running radio and television series. His novel The Kite (1962) is about a newsman's interview with Daddy Sherry, supposedly the oldest and wisest man in western Canada. Another novel, The Vanishing Point (1973), deals with a teacher's involvement with Indians in southwest Alberta.