United for Libraries has named The Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library a literary landmark in honor of Oxford’s own Larry Brown.
Larry Brown is a two-time winner of the Southern Book Award for fiction, winner of the Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters for fiction. His notable works include “Dirty Work,” “Joe,” “Father and Son” and “A Miracle of a Catfish.”
The Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library was established in 1930. Before relocating down University Avenue, it was located on the Square where Brown made frequent visits to better his reading and writing skills.
“When the library was on Madison Avenue up off the Square he (Larry Brown) would come up there and take books to the fire station and read,” said head librarian Laura Beth Walker. “He came here and checked out books learning how to write, so he was a big presence in the library.”
Laura Beth Walker took the job as head librarian at The Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library in November of 2012, wasting no time in seeking recognition for her library and staff.
“I applied in May but I have been working on it for a couple of months getting all the stuff together for the application and we found out in a couple of weeks after I applied,” Walker said.
To commemorate Larry Brown’s life, Walker said there will be a bronze plaque out in front of the library in his honor. Walker went on further to say there are plans for the dedication of the landmark.
“After the summer winds down we’re going to plan a big event,” she said. “We don’t have the dates set for it yet, but it will be sometime this fall.”
Richard Howorth, owner of Square Books and a good friend of Larry Brown, helped Walker with the literary landmark application.
“Larry had a relationship with the library when he was first getting to write and do a lot of reading,” Howorth said. “He read a lot of books about how to get published and read about other writers and discovering other writers, writers who he would come to admire, and he did the same thing in our bookstore.”
In order for a location to be considered a literary landmark, it takes a community effort.
“A group of citizens recognizes that somebody who was of significant literary merit living in the community or somehow attached to their community, and then they put together an application to us,” said Sally Gardner Reed, executive director of United for Libraries. “Based on the significance of that location and the significance of the author, we determine whether or not that person should be so honored.”
Gardner Reed said he hopes that this particular landmark will continue to benefit children in the Oxford-Lafayette County area.
“Anytime you elevate the importance of stature of reading and writing you help kids, especially children, understand how important it can be,” she said. “Writing can get you national recognition, not just playing basketball, football, or playing the guitar, but actual activity of the mind and literary achievement can be just as rewarding.”
