{"id":782,"date":"2018-12-31T13:58:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T13:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=782"},"modified":"2018-12-31T13:58:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T13:58:56","slug":"1-1-17-news-briefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=782","title":{"rendered":"1.1.17 News Briefs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bookseller and writing group updates, January 2017<\/h1>\n

The close of one year and the debut of another<\/span> always brings word of important transitions, and bookish Texas life is no exception. While we\u2019ve learned of changes in some of our favorite bookstore destinations from the east side of the state to the west, we\u2019ve also gotten wind of a new bookselling enterprise in the south.<\/p>\n

Beauty and the Book closes; founder Murphy shifts plans<\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Kathy L. Murphy<\/span>, founder of the long-running Beauty and the Book hair salon and bookstore in Jefferson and, later, Hawkins, Texas, posted on her Facebook page December 4, \u201cA chapter is closing in my book of life, yes, Beauty and the Book, my shop that was my dream come true has come to an end. It’s time . . . 16 years of my life I gave it my all, 2000\u20132016, but sometimes that is just not good enough. I have to let it go and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy reports that she has \u201dbeen working on completion of my B.F.A Art degree at the University of Texas in Tyler since then and will graduate Fall 2017. . . . Beauty and the Book lives on through my amazing book club, the spectacular Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Reading Nation. But it’s time to move on to my next career move and find work in something I am very passionate about through my love of the arts, one in which I can make a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is working on her next book, \u201cThe Pulpwood Queen Goes Back to School.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Murphy\u2019s fans are invited to follow her Artist page on Facebook. But most important, followers will be keen to know that the Pulpwood Queen\u2019s Girlfriend Weekend<\/span> is alive and well, returning to Nacogdoches January 12\u201315, 2017.<\/p>\n

The event has always been held on Martin Luther King Weekend each January, \u201ca celebration of authors, books, literacy and reading\u201d and a generous dose of fun, including the annual Great Big Ball of Hair Ball, with revelers dressed as literary characters.<\/p>\n

For more information contact thepulpwoodqueen@gmail.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>, (903) 769-3400.<\/p>\n

Lubbock indie store Hester Books closing its doors\u2014for now<\/h1>\n

Oldies977 Radio of Lubbock reports Dec. 29<\/span><\/a><\/span> that \u201cthe doors of Hester Books<\/span> will be closing . . . as owner Renee Hester<\/span> has decided to pursue a new direction.\u201d Hester, who has managed the shop since 2006 following the death of her father, Ross Hester, who founded it in 1997. The Hester family has served Lubbock community with office supplies, office machines, and a printing company going back eight decades.<\/p>\n

Hester said she has a prospective buyer she hopes will reopen the store by Spring 2017 under a new management.<\/p>\n

The storefront on 34th Street has welcomed customers in search of local, out-of-print, and other secondhand volumes\u2014of which it stocked some 80,000. Stay tuned for new developments this spring.<\/p>\n

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Panhandle Professional Writers rebrands as High Plains Writers<\/h1>\n

The Amarillo-based Panhandle Professional Writers, <\/span>one of the state\u2019s oldest writers\u2019 groups, changed its name in 2016 to Texas High Plains Writers, an identity reflected in its new Facebook page<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The group began in 1921 as Panhandle Pen Women, founded by teacher and historian Laura V. Hamner<\/span>.<\/p>\n

John Schmidt<\/span> of Amarillo emailed us on Dec. 29 with \u201ca fairly detailed explanation of what is going on here\u201d among the \u201cBig Four\u201d of the writers\u2019 groups in Amarillo. For those of you looking for a community to start your 2017 writing with, we\u2019ve summarized it here.<\/p>\n