The John Updike Society announced last week that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the Shillington, Pennsylvania, home the Pulitzer Prize“winning author lived in as a child. The house, which resides at 117 Philadelphia Avenue, was purchased with money donated by a foundation that wishes to remain anonymous until after the deal is fully closed. The sale is contingent upon the house being designated an historic site.

From the Reading Eagle:

“I’m tickled pink with the agreement,” said the owner of the house, Tracy Hoffmann, president of Niemczyk-Hoffmann, an advertising and marketing firm, which has already relocated to Spring Township.

Hoffmann owned the building with his former partner, Ted Niemczyk.

“I feel really good about the John Updike Society eventually taking over the home and property and preserving it, because I believe it can be a crown jewel for the community,” Hoffmann said.

The John Updike Society was formed in 2009, the year the author died. The mission statement on its website reads:

The John Updike Society will be operated exclusively for the purposes of awakening and sustaining reader interest in the literature and life of John Updike, promoting literature written by Updike, and fostering and encouraging critical responses to Updike’s literary works.