Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Will Cook (writer)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Eddie891 Talk Work 21:49, 28 September 2022 (UTC)

Will Cook (writer)

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

Biography of a writer, not reliably sourced as having any strong claim to passing WP:AUTHOR. The only notability claim on the table here is that he and his work existed, which is not automatically enough in and of itself, and the article is referenced entirely to directory entries with absolutely no evidence of any WP:GNG-worthy coverage about him and his work shown at all. Bearcat (talk) 17:43, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Authors and United States of America. Bearcat (talk) 17:43, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Delete per nom. Creamjuice (talk) 02:31, 22 September 2022 (UTC) striking confirmed blocked sockpuppet, Atlantic306 (talk) 22:13, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Comment It's best to use his full name when searching: William Everett Cook. My only success was in finding that his archives are held by the Orbis Cascade Alliance, which has a short bio, and he is listed as an Indiana author by the Indiana University. I'm leaning "delete" but waiting to see if anyone is more successful in finding sources. Lamona (talk) 02:22, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep This was initially a tough one because the name Will Cook is so common that searches bring up a ton of extraneous information. Another difficulty is that he died in 1964, which means media coverage and reviews of his works mostly pre-date the internet era. However, after doing a good bit of research I discovered this author was actually a big deal in the Western fiction genre during his lifetime and for decades after. There are detailed entries about him in the Encyclopedia of Frontier and Western Fiction and Twentieth-Century Western Writers, encyclopedias released in 1983 and 1992 that cover the Western genre. In addition, his books and stories were turned into a major John Ford film, a couple of other films, and episodes of TV westerns such as Cheyenne, Bronco, and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (his IMDb entry is here). And while most media coverage pre-dates the internet, Cook does have reviews in Publisher's Weekly and Booklist. I have added all of these and additional citations to the article, along with adding info from these citations. In light of all this, I believe this subject meets Wikipedia's notability standards.--SouthernNights (talk) 17:35, 24 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep per SouthernNights, especially inclusion in two specialist encyclopedias and work made into multiple films, which seems to meet WP:AUTHOR. Espresso Addict (talk) 03:03, 25 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep The two encyclopedias found by SouthernNights (and added to the article - thanks!) provide sufficient information for notability. Note that both can be borrowed from the Open Library/Internet Archive as part of their controlled digital lending. Lamona (talk) 19:26, 25 September 2022 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.