Borland was born in Sterling, Nebraska and studied at the University of Colorado and Columbia University. He eventually became a journalist for publications such as the Denver Post, The New York Times, and Audubon Magazine. Books that he wrote included High, Wide, and Lonesome, This Hill, This Valley and The Seventh Winter. His 1963 When the Legends Die, about the struggles of a young Ute Indian to live apart from white society, has become a young adult classic, and was made into a 1972 film.

Borland died in Sharon, Connecticut at the age of 77.

Borland was born in Sterling, Nebraska and studied at the University of Colorado and Columbia University. He eventually became a journalist for publications such as the Denver Post, The New York Times, and Audubon Magazine. Books that he wrote included High, Wide, and Lonesome, This Hill, This Valley and The Seventh Winter. His 1963 When the Legends Die, about the struggles of a young Ute Indian to live apart from white society, has become a young adult classic, and was made into a 1972 film.

Borland died in Sharon, Connecticut at the age of 77.