Basque author Laxalt to be honored

Nevada author Robert Laxalt will be honored with a Friends of the Library USA Literary Landmark at the Nevada State Library and Archives at 1 p.m. Oct. 31 in the library lobby, 100 N. Stewart St.

The Literary Landmark program recognizes the achievements of dead literary figures, authors, or their works. Warren Lerude, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor at the University of Nevada, Reno's School of Journalism and longtime friend of Laxalt's, will be master of ceremonies. Monique Laxalt and Shaun Griffin will also speak at the event.

"In the years of my growing up in tiny Carson City, the Nevada State Library was my second home," Laxalt wrote in his essay "The Library and I." He frequented the State Library in the 1930s when it was still located in the octagonal annex to the Capitol.

Laxalt wrote dozens of novels, short stories and nonfiction titles, including "Sweet Promised Land, Nevada: A History" and "The Basque Hotel." He helped found the University of Nevada Press and directed it from 1961 to 1983. He was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 1988.

The Nevada Center for the Book promotes books, reading, libraries and the state's literary heritage.