This Week In National Press Club History

Sept. 22, 2011: John Grisham, lawyer, politician, and author of legal thrillers that have sold over 250 million copies worldwide, including A Time To Kill, The Pelican Brief and The Firm, is presented the 2011 Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction. The award is co-sponsored by the University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal, and celebrates the role of lawyers in society and the ideals represented by Atticus Finch, the hero of Lee’s beloved novel To Kill A Mockingbird. David Baldacci, lawyer and writer of mystery thrillers that have been translated into over 45 languages, received the same honor that day.

Sept. 27, 2003: Mary and Carol Higgins Clark, mother and daughter mystery writing duo, visit to debut their new novels.

Literature, from politics to romance, from cookbooks to science fiction, has been an important feature in the life of the Club, focusing primarily for some years on the works of its members. Since the 1940s, a wide array of outside authors have appeared at Club luncheons, book raps, and the annual Book Fair, which began in 1975.

This Week In National Press Club History is brought to you by the History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s century-plus history with lobby displays, events, panel discussions, and its oral history, which now contains over 200 interviews with Club members. These are available to researchers in the Club’s archives.

For more information on the History & Heritage Committee’s activities, or to join the Committee, contact Chair Gilbert Klein at [email protected].