Marymount’s Best-Selling Author Series
By Lewis Burke Frumkes

The Best-selling Author Series began about 12 years ago when Dick Cook and Rhonda Barnat, two friends of the college’s dean, Mary Kay Jeynes, asked me to put together a series of literary talks which would be funded by a small grant from the East River Savings Bank. What evolved from that meeting was a successful annual literary event that featured prominent and best-selling authors who would appear in the Spring of each year at the school. We would have a writer talk in the theatre about the writing life, followed by a Q & A and coffee and cookie reception in the Nugent Lounge where a book signing would take place. In February, another speaker would come again, meet attendees and inscribe books.

Suffice that over the years we have managed

to attract some of the finest writers in the land as our speakers. . . many before they became household names. Among the distinguished list that has appeared at Marymount are Tom Wolfe, Joyce Carol Oates, Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson.

The series is offered free to the students of the college and to the community as part of our outreach effort to enrich the neighborhood. Each event is usually attended by 200-300 people, who enjoy the cookies and coffee at the booksigning reception that follows the talk in the theatre. Because of the popularity of the series, there is often a waiting list for tickets, and in certain cases we have found it necessary to close-circuit the event to another venue to accommodate the demand.

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