A Friendly Honor for County’s Authors

UC Irvine Friends of the Library president Everett Daly surveyed the packed room of authors nibbling hors d’oeuvres and sipping champagne from plastic glasses.

He was explaining how the library support group’s annual champagne reception, held Wednesday afternoon in the campus library, gives the Friends a chance to meet Orange County authors who have had books published the previous year.

Then Daly, whose reading tends to run to scholarly history books, flashed a boyish grin.

“I just met the author of ‘The Dirty Dozen,’ which is one of my favorite movies,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it!”

Daly was referring to E.M. Nathanson, one of 63 Orange County authors who will be honored May 22 at the Friends’ 23rd annual Orange County Author’s Recognition Dinner at the Irvine Marriott. All 63 authors will be honored for having had books published in 1987.

As it turns out, Nathanson, who is being honored for “A Dirty Distant War,” a sequel to “The Dirty Dozen,” was the first Orange County author to win the Friends’ award in the best fiction category in 1965. The book was “The Dirty Dozen.”

“The university had just opened up and I think I just happened to be in the backyard and they didn’t know any other writers,” joked Nathanson, who lives in Laguna Niguel. “Here it is 23 years later.”

Over the years, as the number of books submitted for recognition grew, the Friends stopped giving awards to individual writers and began giving equal honor to all Orange County authors who had books published the previous year.

For first-time authors such as Jennifer Botkin-Maher of Placentia, receiving recognition from the Friends of the Library “is a thrill and an honor.” Botkin-Maher’s book, “Nice Girls Don’t Get Raped,” deals with her experience as a rape victim 10 years ago. The title, she said, refers to one of the myths about rape.

“When this happened to me a lot of people encouraged me to tell my story,” said Botkin-Maher, who spent five years writing her book. “I’m really excited to be here, to be around other writers. There are so many exciting authors here.”

For the first time, the authors were asked to bring copies of their books to sell at the reception, and a table set up out front was doing a brisk business.

Author Randy Skretvedt not only brought 20 copies of his book, “Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies,” but he went one step further. He was wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the comedy duo’s likenesses. Grinned Skretvedt: “Well, I thought this would help promote things.”

As a first-time honoree, Skretvedt acknowledged: “It’s quite a heady experience because I’m seeing names I recognize like E.M. Nathanson. It’s evident there is a very healthy literary scene in Orange County.”

Alex Thorleifson, co-author with Pilar Wayne of “John Wayne: My Life With the Duke,” agreed.

“I think it’s wonderful to see the number of writers who live in Orange County,” she said. “I think the difference between Orange County and other places where I have friends who are writers is that Orange County writers support each other and do a great deal of networking. I think Orange County is a very fertile ground for writers and obviously from what you see today there’s a tremendous variety of material.”

Irvine mystery writer Robert Ray, who was being honored for “Murdock for Hire,” the second in his series of Orange County-based detective novels, said it was his second time to be recognized by the UCI Friends of the Library.

“It feels real nice to have local support and it’s fun,” he said, lifting up his plastic glass: “And the champagne is excellent.”

Reservations for the Author’s Recognition Dinner may be made by calling the Friends of the Library, (714) 856-5300. The cost is $25 per person. The keynote speaker will be Los Angeles Times critic-at-large Charles Champlin.