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Bill Faulkner Born
Bill Faulkner is born in New Albany, Mississippi, less than an hour drive from his eventual home in Oxford at Rowan Oak. -
Faulkner Accepts Nobel Prize
Though he won the Nobel Prize in 1949, Faulkner accepted the award in Stockholm a year later. Senses of his Southern Renaissance values can be seen in his acceptance speech, where he is quoted: "The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past" (Nobel Prize). -
CBS Broadcasts Five-Part Film About Faulkner
After a film crew was sent to Oxford in November 1952, CBS released a film showing Faulkner walking through the streets of Oxford and reenacting his memories with some of his boyhood friends. This film was released in response to his acceptance of the Nobel Prize in 1949. One of the film's main subjects was his sense of personal privacy, especially as it informed his sense of himself as a writer and an Oxford resident. -
William Faulkner Dies
Faulkner dies of a heart attack in Byhalia, Mississippi, two months before the Ole Miss race riots that will eventually inspire the Howorths to open Square Books in Oxford. -
Ole Miss Race Riots of 1962
Ole Miss students lashed out following a Supreme Court decision to desegregate university campuses. An angry riot erupted as the first black student tried to enter the school grounds. Two people died before 3,000 federal troops were called to quell the racial tensions. A video history of the event can be found at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVqvCuOwpZU -
Richard and Lisa Howorth Begin Working at Savile Book Shop
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Square Books Opens
Square Books opens its first location in Oxford's central town square
under owners Richard and Lisa Howorth. In this first iteration, the bookstore fills the upstairs space of 111 Courthouse Square, the eventual site of Square Books, Jr. -
Square Books Moves Locations to 160 Courthouse Square
Square Books moves to the former site of the Blaylock Drug Store building, a historic two-story building with a central street location. After moving to the space at 160 Courthouse Square business quickly doubled. Readings by Willie Morris, Richard Ford and Barry Hannah helped christen this new location. The store soon became the first store in Oxford to act as a cafe when they started selling espresso out of the space between the history and fiction sections. -
Off Square Books Opens at 129 Courthouse Square
Square Books opened an annex store a few doors down from their main store, selling lifestyle books, including those on art, cooking, gardening, and travel, as well as a vast selection of used and remainder books. This location is now primarily used to host readings by touring authors, children's events, and the Thacker Mountain Radio Show. -
Square Books, Jr. Opens at 111 Courthouse Square
In the downstairs space of where Square Books had opened almost three decades before, Square Books, Jr., specializing in children's literature, was built. It's inventory soon included games, puzzles, and educational toys. -
Dean Faulkner Wells Book Signing
Dean Faulkner Wells holds her book signing for her memoir, Every Day in the Sun, at the Lyric Oxford theater where the film adaptation for Faulkner's, Intruder in the Dust, premiered in 1949.
