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Librarian’s corner: Author Louis L’Amour

by Amelia Herron, Manchester District Library

The Manchester District Library will be highlighting a different author or topic each week. This week’s author is Louis L’Amour:

Louis L’Amour was born in 1908 as the last of seven children. Born with the name, “LaMoore,” L’Amour changed the spelling of his last name when he became a writer. L’Amour oldest sister, Emily, was the librarian at the Alfred Dickey Free Library near where L’Amour and his family lived. He enjoyed learning about history and the natural sciences. He also enjoyed the fiction writings of Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, and others who wrote on similar subjects. When Louis was young, his grandfather came to live with the family and often told him stories about his experiences as a soldier. At the beginning of the 1920s, all the LaMoore children had moved out, except Louis and his brother John.

L’Amour actually started out writing poetry and articles on boxing. He was successful with these, even writing and editing sections of the WPA Guide Book to Oklahoma. But, while he was successful in these endeavors, he was less successful with his short stories. His first book, Anything for a Pal, was not received as well, as most would expect. Especially considering how well received his stories became, later on. Despite a rough start, L’Amour went on to write 100 novels, more than 250 short stories, and has sold 100s of millions of his novels throughout the years.

According to Amazon.com, Louis L’Amour best selling book is Grub Line Rider, a collection of seven of his western short stories. Two of them are “Black Rock Coffin Makers” and “Desert Death Song.”

If you’d like to give the western genre a try, L’Amour is one of the best authors to start with. More of his books are found in the fiction section of the library, under “L’Amour.”

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.