UCI Friends of Library Will Honor O.C. Writers

As the recipient of the UC Irvine Friends of the Library’s first Fiction Award in 1966, E.M. (Mick) Nathanson of Laguna Niguel jokes that “I was the only one around, so they grabbed me.”

Actually, 17 books were submitted in three categories--fiction, nonfiction and juvenile--the first year the library support group honored county authors.

And it was Nathanson’s novel, “The Dirty Dozen,” that the Friends deemed “the most outstanding” in the fiction category. Also honored that year in nonfiction was UCI history professor Arthur J. Marder of Newport Beach for his history of the Royal Navy and Leon Ware of San Juan Capistrano for his book in the juvenile category.

The Friends’ first annual authors recognition dinner was held at the Sheraton Inn in Huntington Beach in May, 1966, with TV personality Frank Baxter, professor emeritus of English at USC, as guest speaker.

Recalls Nathanson, who was presented a plaque and delivered a brief thank-you speech to the assembled crowd of 400: “I was elated to be noticed by my community, and I felt great joy that the Friends of the Library had taken note of this novel.”

The UCI Friends of the Library is still taking note of Orange County authors.

After a number of years selecting “the most outstanding” among an increasing number of submissions, however, the library support group quit making individual awards and began giving equal honor to all Orange County authors who had books published the previous year.

This year, more than 50 authors who had books published in 1989 will be recognized at the Friends’ 25th annual Authors Recognition Dinner at 7 p.m. April 29, at the Irvine Marriott. The keynote speaker will be literary agent Robert Gottlieb of the William Morris Agency in New York, whose impressive list of clients includes the best-selling Tom Clancy. (Gottlieb has described the megabuck sale of Clancy’s next thriller to Putnam/Berkley as being no less than “the deal of the century.”) Other Gottlieb clients include Stephen Coonts, Donald T. Regan, Caspar Weinberger and Alexandra Ripley (the author who is writing the sequel to “Gone With the Wind”).

The event is open to the public and tickets ($25 each) may be obtained by calling the Friends of the Library office at (714) 856-5300.

During a social hour beginning at 5:30, all the honored books will be on display and guests will have an opportunity to chat with the authors in attendance.

As in past years, this year’s crop of honored books and authors spans a diverse range: from William E. Dannemeyer’s “Shadow Land: Homosexuality in America” to romance novelist Suzanne Forster’s “Wild Honey,” and from Jess J. Araujo’s “The Law and Your Legal Rights” to E.C. Ward’s Orange County mystery “A Nice Little Beach Town.”

Theodore Taylor, who is being recognized for two novels published last year--his adult thriller “Monocolo” and his young adult thriller “Sniper”--is an old hand at the annual literary gathering: This will be the Laguna Beach author’s eighth dinner as an honoree. “It’s a nice social affair,” said Taylor, whose book “Sniper” also has been nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. “You get a chance to schmooze with other writers in the county. You don’t really get a chance to see them that often. I don’t anyway.”

Jean Femling of Costa Mesa, honored for her Newport Beach-set thriller “Hush, Money,” is looking forward to the dinner for the same reason.

“I think it’s fun to see the other authors in the county,” she said. “One knows a few, but it’s really interesting to see people who have just been names to you before.”

For first-time honoree Jo-Ann Mapson of Costa Mesa, who is being recognized for her collection of short stories, “Fault Line,” being acknowledged by the Friends of the Library is just plain “great.”

“I feel delighted that they want to honor my book and I’m a little nervous,” she said. “I’m excited to be going to the dinner, and I’m really looking forward to hearing Robert Gottlieb. Wow! Big time!”

The UC Irvine Friends of the Library is the university’s oldest support group. And, with 2,700 members, it is considered the largest Friends of the Library organization in the nation. A $25 annual membership fee entitles members to a university library card, which, given its reputation as a research library, is an added bonus.

Over the years the Friends have made substantial donations to the library, including the purchase of a complete microform collection of the New York Times and London Times.

During the year, the group hosts various breakfasts and luncheons for members, but the annual author recognition dinner is the most anticipated event.

“It’s really the highlight of each year,” said John B. Cobb, a Newport Beach attorney, who is the group’s current president. “It takes a lot of work, but it does bring us together and also it re-establishes our relationship with the authors.”

Muriel Reynolds of Newport Beach, who co-founded the Friends with B.N. Desenberg of Newport Beach, said the idea for the annual dinner was to put the group on the map.

“It was obvious we had to do something to have recognition so that we could get members and be a strong organization, and this is how we did it,” said Reynolds, who attended the first dinner and plans to be at the 25th.

“Our dinner has really been a successful thing--it has always been packed,” Reynolds said. “People are interested because we celebrate the authors of Orange County, and I think it gets to be more of a tradition every year.”

Despite the best efforts of the Friends’ book committee, the list of authors being honored each year does not necessarily reflect every Orange County writer who had a book published the previous year.

Mrs. Eleanor Savage, book committee chairman, said letters are sent to previous honorees notifying them of the upcoming dinner and the deadline for submitting their novels published the previous year. Flyers also are sent to libraries and writing groups asking for nominations. And, during the year, members keep their eyes out for newspaper stories about local authors.

“It’s just a hard thing for us to reach out, but we certainly try,” Savage said.

The names of honorees who nevertheless make the list each year reads like a “Who’s Who” of the county’s constantly growing literary community.

Savage said: “We feel very proud of the fact so many of our authors who have started out with us are now (recognized) nationwide like Dean Koontz, T. Jefferson Parker, A.E. Maxwell and Robert Ray.”

Ray, alas, moved to Seattle last December and, as Savage noted, “will no longer qualify.”

But Ray’s most recent mystery, “Merry Christmas, Murdock” was published in 1989 while Ray was still living in Irvine and it will be honored this year.

Ray, however, won’t be flying down for the dinner.

In a phone interview from Seattle, Ray said he enjoyed attending a previous dinner where he met Laguna Beach science fiction author Gregory Benford: “We split a bottle of wine,” he said with a laugh.

Ray, who is currently revising a thriller that deals with money laundering, even more fondly recalls the author reception hosted by the Friends of the Library in the weeks before the dinner. That’s one part of the Friends’ literary tradition that was phased out a couple of years ago.

Recalled the self-described “guerrilla book marketer” with a chuckle: “I sold a bunch of books there. It was great.”

Open House: The new UC Irvine Bookstore will host a weeklong open house beginning Monday and continuing through next Saturday.

At 3 p.m. Monday, Irvine-based Pacific Writers Press will host a reception and reading for short-story writer Jo-Ann Mapson (“Fault Line”) and Victor Valle, author of the upcoming poetry collection “Calendar of Souls, Wheel of Fires.”

From 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday the bookstore will be dedicated.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday California historian Kevin Starr and Orange County Life columnist Joe Bell will speak.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday an author reception will include Ralph Angel, James Brown, Robert Ferrigno, Jay Gummerman, MacDonald Harris, Michelle Latiolais, Gordon McAlpine and Kem Nunn.

At noon Friday Times columnist Jack Smith (“The Big Orange”) will autograph copies of his books.

From 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday a reception will be held for technical book authors Cornel K. Pokorny, Carolyn Gillay, Dale Craig and Jane Troop.

Book Signing: Author-illustrator Ed Emberley will sign his drawing books from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at Ted E. Bear and Friends children’s bookstore, 6029 Warner Ave., Huntington Beach.

Author honored: Newport Beach novelist Doug Muir will be honored by the Women’s National Book Assn. at a Suspense and Mystery Tribute on Tuesday in Century City. Muir, who teaches writing at Irvine Valley College, has written four thrillers.

Cafe of Dreams: The monthly “conglomeration of poetry, music, discussion, art and decision-making” will feature Murray McNeil 3, Uncle Don and Don Elwell and a special acoustic program by the Swamp Zombies at 8 p.m. Monday at Diedrich’s Coffee, 474 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa.

Send information about book-related events to: Books & Authors, Orange County Life, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Deadline is two weeks before publication.