Author Night w/Kevin Starr

An Author Night with Dr. Kevin Starr, the pre-eminent chronicler of California life and culture, will be the centerpiece of the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library on January 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room.  The event will also serve as the Centennial Celebration of the Book Club of California (in the southern part of the state). Brad Colerick, a South Pasadena-based singer/songwriter, will open the program with some classic songs of the Golden State, along with a few more obscure surprises.

Dr. Starr is easily one of the greatest historians California has ever produced. He is probably best known for his 7 volume series, the highly acclaimed “Americans and the California Dream.”  His latest book is “Clio on the Coast: The Writing of California History, 1845-1945” published by The Book Club of California who will be celebrating its Centennial in 2012 with events in Northern California and the Kevin Starr Author Night at the South Pasadena Public Library. The Club will be on hand, to sell books and make information available about their fine organization. During the club’s storied history they have honored many great book people of the Golden State, including Lawrence Clark Powell and Ward Ritchie, both of whom grew up in South Pasadena. Powell was one of the top authors of the West and Head Librarian at UCLA for many years and Ritchie was an internationally recognized book designer.

Clio, the Muse of History, generously inspired many efforts to bring the spirit and practice of history to California in its first one hundred years as an American province. Kevin Starr’s Clio on the Coast brings to life the men and women who chronicled and interpreted the story of California through the period and social transformation of the twentieth century.

Kevin Starr was born in San Francisco and earned a Bachelor’s in English from San Francisco State University in 1962 before he served for two years as a Lieutenant in a U.S. Army tank battalion in Germany. Later he earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in American History from Harvard University. For many years he was a visiting lecturer at many California Universities and in 1989 he became Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at USC. In 1998 he was promoted to University Professor of History.

Starr served as California State Librarian from 1994 to 2004. In 2009 he published “Los Angeles: Portrait of a City” and 2010 his “Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America’s Greatest Bridge” appeared. That same year he was inducted into the California Hall of Fame by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. During his stellar career he has also been accorded a Guggenheim fellowship and the Gold Medal of the Commonwealth Club of California.

Brad Colerick has made his living making music for 25 years since arriving in Southern California from his native Nebraska. His music is deeply anchored in the California Folk Rock sound he gravitated toward in his formative years. Colerick also hosts the popular “Wine & Song” series every Wednesday at Firefly Bistro, where he is joined by an impressive variety of touring singer/songwriters from far and wide. He’ll be joined for this show by Phil Parlapiano who toured for years with John Prine, as well as stints with Tracy Chapman and Lucinda Williams.

The all-in-one Friends Annual Meeting/Kevin Starr Author Night/Book Club of California Centennial Celebration is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served and no tickets or reservations are necessary. Book Club of California selections will be available for purchase. The Community Room is located at 1115 El Centro Street.