Press release — October 24, 2024

“Literature moves on from one generation to another generation because of the work of minor writers. People like Dickens and Thackeray that looked like major writers when they were writing, they don’t look so major. They’re not beyond reach. Literature is fed by minor talents. Mine is, certainly.” 

 –Larry McMurtry’s response to the question “Why do you call yourself a ‘minor regional writer’?”

ARCHER CITY, TEXAS—Chip and Joanna Gaines have sold Booked Up, Larry McMurtry’s internationally renowned Book Store in his hometown of Archer City, to the Archer City Writers Workshop (ACWW), a non-profit writers organization inspired by and dedicated to “the minor regional writer’s” clear-eyed vision and unvarnished realism about Texas and the American West.

ACWW plans include transforming Booked Up into a thriving literary center that will showcase Larry McMurtry’s epic life as a cowboy, novelist, screenwriter, rare book collector and artist for the ages. Equally exciting are ACWW’s plans to make McMurtry’s extraordinary collection of 175,000 rare books accessible to the public. 

“We are great admirers of the life and work of Larry McMurtry and look forward to seeing his remarkable bookstore open its doors again in a way that honors his legacy and our shared love for the story and spirit of Archer City,” said Chip and Joanna Gaines.

The ACWW’s leadership group was convinced that Booked Up would be an ideal location to operate a literary center in Larry’s honor long before the Gaines offered them the opportunity to buy the building. “Booked Up was the center of Larry’s literary universe and for the hundreds of writers who participated in the Archer City Writers Workshop over the last two decades,” said George Getschow, director of the ACWW. “This is why we’re so grateful to Chip and Joanna for offering us the opportunity to establish the Larry McMurtry Literary Center inside the former Booked Up—a renowned cultural landmark and one of Texas’ and the nation’s literary treasures.”  

There are about a dozen prominent literary centers across the country honoring famous authors such as Eudora Welty in Jackson, Mississippi; John Steinbeck in Salinas, California; Pat Conroy in Beaufort, South Carolina; Emily Dickinson in Amherst, Massachusetts; Willa Cather in Red Cloud, Nebraska; Harriet Beecher Stowe in Hartford, Connecticut; Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem, Massachusetts; and Jack Kerouac in Orlando, Florida. 

Over the last decade, these literary centers honoring American authors have grown into a commercially-significant phenomenon, attracting literary tourism and contributing to the cultural and economic enrichment of the communities in which these centers are based.  For example, Willa Cather’s literary center in Red Cloud, Nebraska (Pop. 948), which opened in 2017, welcomes between 8,000 to 10,000 on-site visitors each year from an average of forty states and five countries.  

Even though Booked Up has been shuttered for more than two years, McMurtry’s fandom from across the country and the world still flock to Archer City (Pop. 1637) hoping to spot McMurtry inside his renowned bookstore.  “They come to town hoping to see Larry and his rare book collection,” says Dotty Hudson, proprietor of the Spur Hotel, “not realizing that Larry’s gone and his bookstore shutdown.” Larry McMurtry died in March 2021 at the age of 84. 

Like many merchants and municipal leaders in Archer City, Ms. Hudson believes that once the Larry McMurtry Literary Center opens its doors, it will draw McMurtry buffs from all parts of the U.S. and overseas, providing a much-needed economic boost to Archer City and the surrounding region. 

Perhaps no one in Archer City is more delighted about the rebirth of Booked Up than Larry McMurtry’s brother, Charlie, and his sisters, Sue Deen and Judith McLemore—all of whom are serving on the LMLC’s Honorary Board. “This is so exciting,” Sue Deen, who managed Larry’s bookstore for seven years, told a gaggle of writers standing outside Booked Up a few weeks ago. “For Larry, Booked Up was a sacred place. He even got married inside the store. Now we can all celebrate Booked Up’s rebirth into a literary center in Larry’s honor.”  

Donations can be accepted through our new website: https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/

For more information, contact:

George Getschow, Director, The Archer City Writers Workshop. Email getschow@unt.edu

Phone number 972-746-1633

Kathy Floyd, Administrator, The Archer City Writers Workshop. Email mkfloyd@sbcglobal.net

Phone number 940-736-7470