Author speaks at luncheon

Normally the Las Vegas Literary Society invites high school students to its luncheons. This month, because of the graphic content in the featured book, it invited adults who work in education.

The visiting author was Jonathan Hull, who spent 10 years working at Time magazine in various positions, including Jerusalem bureau chief and as a national correspondent. He left his job to write his debut novel "Losing Julia," which was the focus of his visit. The story weaves the various elements of aging, memory, war, love, and loss together.

The invited guests spoke with Hull before the luncheon and asked questions on why he made the leap into fiction, what he was working on now, his favorite author and if he worried that using an aging figure as his main character would affect the book's acceptance.

Being at the event was a thrill for Marta Sorkin, librarian for the Lied Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She said she found Hull's book riveting and wanted to know how "such a young man could write with such in-depth description of life's experiences."

She said college and high school students could benefit from meeting an author as they were on the brink of stepping into careers of their own.

The educators were asked if Hull's book could find a place in the classroom. Felicia Campbell, English professor at the university and a book reviewer, said she did not see herself including it in her curriculum. But she was of the opinion that both high school and college students should meet authors like him.

Carrol Steedman, director of the university's continuing education department, said Hull's book should be read in high school. She expressed an interest in adding his novel to UNLV's life-span psychology classes, inter-generational classes or study groups.

As to whether the Literary Society should invite college students instead of high schoolers, Steedman went with the latter.

"High school students have few or no opportunities to meet authors," she said.

For his part, Hull spoke on the importance of growing up around books and how they allowed him to, as he put it, survive childhood.

That kind of sentiment was echoed by Anne Marie DeMarco Rehm, director of external affairs for the Alexander Dawson School. That school conducts literacy hours where children spend time reading just for the joy of it.

Rehm recalled being a child and wanting her first library card. But she had to be able to write her name before one would be issued.

"Boy, I practiced and practiced until I got it right," she said. "Getting that library card was such a thrill."

Alexander Dawson also brings in visiting authors.

"It makes them life-long learners," she said. "Reading is the basis of all learning."

Betty Sabo, principal of Green Valley High School, had strong thoughts on the need for a reading emphasis in schools. She called it a travesty that a high school like hers, with more than 3,000 students, had only one creative writing class.

Sabo also applauded the Literary Society's stance on inviting students to the luncheons.

The session with the author was over, but individual discussions continued at the luncheon tables. After lunch was served, Pat Everett, managing director of Northern Trust, brought Joe McCullough to the podium, noting the UNLV professor was an author in his own right.

"Yes, but unlike our speaker today, I don't have the courage to quit my day job," McCullough quipped.

Then Hull charmed the attendees with his experience of writing the book, his love of literature and what he wanted to accomplish with his next book.

McCullough praised Hull's work and said if his second novel is "even remotely like this one, he's sure to have a wonderful career."

For information on the Literary Society contact Lori McDonald at Northern Trust 562-4028.


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