Organizers of the new Larry McMurtry Literary Center in Archer City are planning to open the author’s former bookshop for a preview. And to raise money for needed repairs, they’re offering fans a chance to buy rare books from McMurtry’s collection.
The center will be open March 8-9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with books available for a $25 donation (limit of 10 books). Many of the books are marked with McMurtry’s pricing, and some have his initials or comments written in them. The center plans to remain open on weekends through the end of March.
McMurtry, an Archer City native who died at age 84 in 2021, won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1985 Western novel Lonesome Dove. Many of his novels, including The Last Picture Show (1966) and Terms of Endearment (1975), were adapted into hit movies.
McMurtry also spent 50 years as an antiquarian bookseller, opening his original store, Booked Up, in 1971 in Washington, D.C. In the 1980s, he opened a Booked Up in Archer City.
After McMurtry’s death, TV’s Fixer Upper power couple Chip and Joanna Gaines bought the store. They recently sold Booked Up to the Archer City Writers Workshop, which plans to honor McMurtry with the literary center.
Details
For more information, visit lmcmurtrylitcenter.org.
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