Daily-ist Wednesday: Larry McMurtry

Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, Brokeback Mountain

Those aren't just great movies. They're also all books (or, in the case of Brokeback Mountain, a screenplay adaptation) that were written by Texas-born writer and Western icon Larry McMurtry.

McMurtry will present the 2009 Friends of Fondren Library Distinguished Guest Lecture at Rice University, from which the author received an M.A. in 1960. The lecture is free, open to the public, and will take place in Grand Hall at Rice Memorial Center at 7 p.m. tonight.

For a time, McMurtry lived in Houston and worked as a manager at a book store, the Bookman. He later wrote a series of books known as the "Houston Trilogy" — Moving On, All My Friends Are Going to be Strangers,Terms of Endearment, and the epilogue, The Evening Star.

McMurtry has published 29 books in total, several of which were made into movies. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for Lonesome Dove and a Golden Globe for best screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. He continues to write (his latest book is called When the Light Goes) and lives in Archer City, Texas.

Larry McMurtry: 2009 Friends of Fondren Library Distinguished Guest Lecture
Admission: Free
Date and Time: 7 p.m. tonight
Location: 6100 Main Street 77006

Photo: "Larry McMurtry's Book Store Archer City TX" by Flickr user jwinfred