Evenings with Authors: Lisa See

New York Times bestselling author, Lisa See, is the next author in the Winter/Spring 2010 Evenings with Authors line-up. She will read from her latest novel, Shanghai Girls.

Shanghai Girls is See’s first novel to take place in America; it is a richly woven tale about two sisters, Pearl and May, who are forced to leave their modern life in Shanghai to be faced with strict ways and rules of Los Angeles’ Chinatown in 1937.  The sisters are inseparable best friends, but like sisters everywhere, they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries.  Through their struggle to find a new life in America, the sisters remind us of the intense love, tension, and struggle inherent in every family.

See is the author of several bestsellers including Peony in Love, and Snowflower and the Secret Fan, among others. Her widely acclaimed memoir, On Gold Mountain, documents her family’s history in Los Angeles’s China Town. See was named National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese-American Women in 2001.

She will speak at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, Thursday, February 4^h at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are going fast so order yours today! You can order tickets online at www.thurberhouse.org, or call (614) 464-1032 ext. 11.

Have you read Shanghai Girls? Share your thoughts in the comment box!

“Columbus’ Best Kept Secret”

When I woke up and glanced across my cluttered room to the calendar, I nearly choked on surprise. January 6^th, 2010!? Of course the weeks always seem to whiz by for a busy student, but realizing that today was my first internship of the New Year made me want to swoon like a black and white movie actress. As well as bringing a fresh start and warm greetings, the New Year also presents a special task to the Thurber House team; the ol’ Thurber guest count. Some might assume it would be boring to sift through stacks and stacks of sign-in sheets from 2009, all the while tallying how many visitors hail from where but the job was much more entertaining than expected. I know from experience, however, that such a job is not only fun (thanks to the occasional pranksters who signed in as “Michael Jakcson’s ghost” or “The Boss”), but is a significant way to demonstrate the international fame and attraction of “Columbus’ best kept secret”.

This year, people journeyed from 33 different states and 10 different countries to tour Thurber House. It was no shock to discover the 678 Ohio visitors that had signed in, but visitors from Norway, South Africa, and Kazakhstan? Those weren’t exactly locations that I imagined Thurber fans voyaging from. There was even a visitor from the Kyrgyz Republic, a country I had never heard of until today. (Thank you, Google.) As it turns out, it’s a pretty great feeling to be associated with something that is noteworthy on such an international level. The diverse amount of language, culture, and age-range that travels through Thurber House’s door in a year is simply amazing.

This is how I came to be smacked in the face with cold irony: Thurber House is a secret, but only in its home city.  It’s clearly a well-known institution worldwide, but, somehow, people living five miles away have no idea it exists. This is truly unfortunate, as Thurber House is a great place, full of culture, rich comedy, and enticing ghost conspiracies. Anyone who visits is sure to leave with a new appreciation for Mr. James Thurber and the creative lifestyle he lived, as well as inspiration for their own artistic masterpieces. Thurber House may be a foreign establishment to many Ohioans, but to those who do know of it, it serves not as “Columbus’ secret”, but as Columbus’ own hidden treasure.

Katie Biggs

Columbus Alternative High School

Evenings with Authors: Jayne Anne Phillips

It might be cold outside, but the Thurber House Winter/Spring 2010 Evenings with Authors series is sue to warm you up! Join us for evenings of value-packed entertainment with great authors, lively conversations, coffee, cookies and fun!

The season begins on Tuesday, January 19 with one of America’s most beloved authors, Jayne Anne Phillips. The author of the acclaimed bestseller, Machine Dreams, Phillips is back with her first novel in nine years, Lark & Termite. A New York Times bestseller and Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the National Book Award, Lark & Termite was hailed as best book of the year by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune.Lark & Termite is a rich, wonderfully moving story of loss and love.  Lark, a teenage girl, spends her time caring for her half-brother Termite, a boy unable to walk or talk, but is blessed with sight and feeling. The novel links the past with the present, moving between the Korean War in 1950, where Termite’s father dies under friendly fire, and Winfield, West Virginia, in 1959, where Lark and Termite are being raised by their Aunt Nonie.  In Lark & Termite, Phillips intertwines family secrets, dreams, ghosts, and the love that unites us all.

A special dinner with Phillips is available before the event at 6 p.m. at the Thurber Center. For more information, call Anne at (614) 464-1032 ext. 10.

Phillips will speak at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, Tuesday, January 19^th at 7:30 p.m. Order tickets online at www.thurberhouse.org, or call (614) 464-1032 ext. 11.