Mt. Lebanon Public Library Speaker Series features author Lisa See
The fifth annual Mt. Lebanon Public Library Speaker Series event features New York Times bestselling author Lisa See.
She will discuss her life and her books – including the latest, “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane” – at 7 p.m. April 16 in the auditorium of Mellon Middle School at 11 Castle Shannon Blvd.
“A lot of book groups tend to read her work, so we thought she would have a wide appeal,” said Sarah McGowan, public services librarian. “Her stories are historical, and there’s a strong interest in history in our area.”
See’s books have been celebrated for their authentic, deeply researched stories about Chinese characters and cultures.
“Her books are very highly readable,” McGowan said. “They move quite quickly, but you also learn a lot while you’re reading them.”
The speaker series began in 2014 in honor of Joe Wertheim, whose service to the library included terms as president and treasurer for the board of trustees and the Friends of Mt. Lebanon Library.
“When he passed away, people sent in donations in his memory, and that’s how this got started,” McGowan explained. “We look for people who appeal to a wide audience, but they also need to be established authors, New York Times best-selling authors. We try to feel out the response they would get in our community and go from there.”
Columnist and novelist Lisa Scottoline – whose latest book, “After Anna,” has just been released – served as the series’ first speaker. Joyce Carol Oates, author of the bestseller “On Boxing,” spoke in 2017.
As for the 2018 presenter, See always has been intrigued by stories that have been lost, forgotten or deliberately covered up, according to her biography. For “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” (2005), she traveled to a remote area of China, where she was told she was only the second foreigner ever to visit, to research the secret writing invented, used and kept a secret by women for more than a millennium.
Her first book, “On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family” (1995), was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book. It traces the journey of her great-grandfather, Fong See, who became the 100-year-old godfather of Los Angeles’s Chinatown and the patriarch of a sprawling family.
General admission tickets to the April 16 lecture and book signing are $20, and are available at the library, at the door or online.
VIP reception tickets, sold online and featuring the opportunity to meet See at 5:30 p.m. in the library’s lower level meeting rooms, are $50 and admission to lecture.
See’s books will be available to purchase at the lecture and VIP reception. Those who attend may bring their own books.
For more information, visit www.mtlebanonlibrary.org.