America Loses Two Literary Giants on The Same Day: Larry McMurtry & Beverly Cleary

Yesterday, this country lost two literary giants - Larry McMurtry and Beverly Cleary.

McMurtry passed away of heart failure at the age of 84. No cause of death has been released for Cleary but she lived to the age of 104. 

McMurtry carved out a reputation for writing unsentimental accounts of his native Texas in books such as Horseman Pass By, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment all of which were adapted for the big screen while Lonesome Dove turned into one of television's most beloved mini-series. McMurtry and his longtime collaborator would later win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama.

Cleary started out as a librarian but would turn to writing when she found children's books to be wanting. So she wrote her own books and created indelible yet ordinary characters such as Henry Huggins, his dog Rigsby as well as Ramona and Beezus Quimby in a literary career which spanned nearly half a century. In her own way, Cleary wrote about Portland, Oregon as McMurtry wrote about Texas.

Both McMurtry and Cleary kept their readers turning pages and will keep doing so now that they have left this world. R.I.P.