Round Table West Defends Its Author Series as Eclectic

In your April 2 story about the spring edition of Manuscripts at Newport Beach Central Library, the program’s co-chairs portray their twice-a-year series as “an alternative to the celebrity-oriented monthly Round Table West author luncheons at the Balboa Bay Club.”

We are always delighted to hear about programs such as the library’s, with which we share a common cause to inspire young people to read more, encourage people to write and foster an appreciation to the literary arts. Frankly, the literary arts need all the help they can get today!

However, we beg to differ that our programs are “celebrity-oriented” while they are “trying to . . . bring a little more of a literary voice.”

Among the 350-plus authors with serious literary credentials whom we have featured during eight years of presenting programs in Orange County have been Thomas Keneally, John Gobbell, Colleen McCullough, Carolyn See, Ray Bradbury, Whitney Otto, Ellen Jones, Laura Archera Huxley, Eric Lax, Margaret Hayden Rector, Valerie Martin, MacDonald Harris, Lane Von Herzen, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey and Jo Ann Mapson.

However, we also present a wide variety of other genres from art to zoology including Charles Bragg, Elizabeth George, Nina Vida, Jack Smith, Jim Murray, Ann Imse, Charles Champlin, Anne Rivers Siddons, Jan Burke, Robert Ferrigno, Rick Smolan, Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker, Chuck Jones, Joe Barbera and Arianna Huffington.

Of course, we have had celebrities who have written books, including Douglas Fairbanks Jr., ex-police chief Darryl Gates, Walter Cronkite, Steve Allen, Rosey Grier and Zsa Zsa Gabor, among others. Often overlooked is the fact that we have also hosted many unknowns who we thought had merit and deserved a showcase for their work.

The library’s emphasis on the literary arts is commendable, but it is inaccurate to characterize Round Table West’s programs as being “celebrity-oriented.” That frivolous depiction could be a real turnoff for people who would enjoy or benefit from a rich menu of book and author offerings, literary and otherwise.

MARILYN HUDSON

Executive director, Round Table West

Los Angeles