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The City Club of San Diego and the San Diego Public Library co-sponsor The Great American Writers Series. From its inception the series was designed to celebrate the whole genre of American writing - fiction and non-fiction. The series, the only one of its kind in the nation, is the product of a partnership between George Mitrovich, President of The City Club, and Anna Tatár, Librarian of the City of San Diego. The series began with an SRO crowd of more than 400 in January of 1999. The inaugural event featured Jane Smiley, a greatly gifted and celebrated writer. Two events in the series, featuring 60-minute televised interviews with Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Paul Theroux, with City Club President George Mitrovich, were highly acclaimed. The series' uniqueness is underscored by its commitment to present writers at more than one library venue. One of the great strengths of the San Diego Public Library is its remarkable system of community libraries, many of which, like the multi-million dollar Point Loma branch, are new. Writers Series programs have been held at Malcolm X, Pacific Beach, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Miramar Ranch, Weingart City Heights, Mission Valley, and La Jolla libraries. In addition, other programs in the series have been featured at the city libraries of Chula Vista and Coronado. One special event featured language writer and children's author, Richard Lederer. More than 500 children and parents attended the event, with each child receiving books, compliments of Harcourt Brace, The City Club, and the San Diego Public Library. There have been 48 events in the series; forty have been free public events. The Great American Writers Series is an extraordinary public service - and defines in a unique manner the relationship between libraries, writers, and the common good. The series has featured: Caryle Murphy Washington Post Writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Nora Ephron Author and Screenwriter Linda Chavez Author, National Hispanic Political Leader Steven R. Weisman Author, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, The New York Times Jurate Kacikas Author, former Vietnam War Correspondent Jane Smiley One of American's most acclaimed authors George Plimpton Participatory Journalist, Author, Editor of The Paris Review Peter Matthiessen Conservationist, Author and acclaimed writer of both fiction and non-fiction books Max Frankel former Executive Editor of The New York Times, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Max Boot Author, member of the Editorial Page, The Wall Street Journal (2) Max Rudin Publisher, Library of America Kevin Phillips American Historian, social critic (3) Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Eminent American Historian, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Lynn Sherr Author, Correspondent for ABC's 20-20 Roy Blount Jr. Author, humorist, National Public Radio (NPR) contributor (2) Richard Rodriquez Author and acclaimed writer of both fiction and non-fiction books Richard Reeves Author and former Chief Political Correspondent, The New York Times Haynes Johnson Washington Post Writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Debra Dickerson Author, former United States Army Intelligence Officer Tom Hayden Author, former member of the California State Senate David Nasaw Biographer of William Randolph Hearst, Professor, New York University (NYU) Paul Theroux One of American's most acclaimed authors Bob Green Author, Columnist, Chicago Tribune Richard Louv Author, Columnist for the San Diego Union Tribune Richard Lederer Author of both language and children's books Matthew Miller Author, Nationally Syndicated Columnist Marty Schram Author, Nationally Syndicated Columnist Sidney Blumenthal Author, former aide to President & Mrs. Clinton Rick Reilly Columnist, Sports Illustrated Bernard Cornwell Celebrated Author of the famous Sharpe series (23 books) Naomi Wolf Author and acclaimed national journalist Vincent Bugliosi Author and nationally acclaimed prosecutor Bill Moyers Author and widely acclaimed PBS tevelvision host Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Eminent American Historian, winner of the Pulitzer Prize (2)