On this day April 17, 1986, author Larry McMurtry was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his epic novel Lonesome Dove. The book, a sweeping Western about two retired Texas Rangers driving cattle from Texas to Montana, became a literary milestone and redefined the genre for a new generation.
Lonesome Dove was praised for its vivid characters, emotional depth, and realistic portrayal of life on the frontier. It brought Western fiction into mainstream literature in a way that felt both classic and modern. The story of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call remains one of the most beloved in American storytelling.
The novel’s success led to a hugely popular television miniseries in 1989 that introduced the story to an even wider audience and won multiple Emmy Awards.
Fun fact: Larry McMurtry originally wrote Lonesome Dove as a screenplay in the 70s for John Wayne, James Stewart, and Henry Fonda, but the project never happened so he turned it into a novel.
Trivia question: What 1986 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Larry McMurtry tells the story of two former Texas Rangers leading a cattle drive to Montana?