Become a member. Be a volunteer. Enjoy seminars, events, and visiting with friends.
Charles Martell Author Lecture Series 2021/2022 Lecture Archives
Who are the Friends?
The Friends of the Library at Sacramento State was founded in 1992 to help the University Library meet the growing and changing needs of the campus and the community. Since its founding, the Friends of the Library has:
Donated over $250,000 to the University Library in grants for the acquisition of books, journals, electronic media, and equipment
Established the Book Bin, a permanent used book sales area on the Library’s lower level
Published the newsletter Bookends
Hosted special events and presentations by well-known authors
Become a Member
Board Leadership
- Acting President Linda J. Goff
- Secretary Roz Van Auker
- Treasurer Michaeline Veden
Bookends Editors
- Linda Goff
- Roz Van Auker
Board Members
- Mary Andrews
- Dhruvisha Budhani, ASI
- Andrea Fiske
- James Fox
- Shari Gonzales
- Sally Hitchcock
- Terry Kastanis
- Erica Kobbe
- Jean Torcom
- Jennifer Ware
- Lisa Woodard-Mink
Ex-Officio
- Amy Kautzman, Dean and Director, University Library
-
Maria Ramirez, Event Coordinator and Communications Strategist, University Library
- Lora Hollingsworth, Sac State Planned Giving
Our Mission
To support the University Library by:
- Bringing together individuals and organizations interested in the University Library
- Reaching out to the community and promoting the interests of the University Library
- Providing a forum for the University and local authors, researchers, and readers to meet and discuss their work and interests
- Raising funds to enhance the University Library
Benefits of Membership
Receipt of the Friends newsletter, Bookends
Invitations to library exhibits, lectures, and events
Library borrowing privileges for members at the Sponsor level ($50 and above)
The satisfaction of supporting education in our community
Complimentary parking for Speaker Series
Staffed by members of the Friends who volunteer for a few hours per week, the Book Bin sells used copies of books and media in various formats. Proceeds from the Book Bin help fund the Friends annual grants program in support of library collections and services as well as general gifts to the University Library.
Summer 2022 Dates
July
- Wed, July 20
- Thu, July 21
August
- Wed, August 3
- Thu, August 4
- Wed, August 17
- Thu, August 18
Donate to the Book Bin
Donations are accepted during regular Book Bin hours and by appointment on the last Friday of every month. Please call (916) 278-5954 to schedule an appointment.
We Accept
- Hardcover and paperback books for children, teens and adults
- Contemporary and classic fiction
- Popular nonfiction such as cookbooks, biographies, history
- DVD movies
- Audio books on CD
- Music CDs
We Cannot Accept
- Books in poor condition (stained, yellowed, moldy, torn)
- Encyclopedias
- Textbooks
- Readers Digest condensed books
- Outdated reference books
- Books discarded by other libraries
- Abridged audio books
- Audio cassettes and VHS tapes
Donations can only be delivered during regular Book Bin hours or by appointment and may not be left outside the door or placed in our book drops. If you have more than two boxes of books, please call ahead to make sure we can accommodate the donation. Due to space constraints, we may need to decline donations.
Once accepted, donations are property of the Library and cannot be returned to the donor.
Charles Martell Author Lecture Series 2021/2022
Entering its 12th year, the Lecture Series offers the campus and Sacramento communities the opportunity to engage with authors whose work is timely and thought provoking. All lectures are free to the public and everyone is welcome to join us.
For more information or to request reasonable accommodations, please contact Maria Ramirez at lib-events@csus.edu at least five (5) business days in advance of the event.
All lectures held at 1:00 p.m. online via Zoom. Registration is required to attend.
Tamara Payne
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Leading off the series on Thursday, September 16, is Tamara Payne who with her late father, Les Payne, co-authored The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, a highly celebrated work that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Biography, 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was selected one of best books of 2020 by NPR, Washington Post and The New York Times. Les Payne, who died in 2018, was a nationally recognized editor and columnist at Newsday who won an earlier Pulitzer Prize as part of a reporting team. Payne spent some 30 years working on the life of Malcolm X and his daughter, Tamara, was the principal researcher who completed the manuscript as well. The upcoming lecture is being co-sponsored by the Sacramento Observer, one of the nation's leading African American newspapers.
Pam Houston
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Pam Houston is the series' second speaker on Tuesday, October 26. An author of widely praised short stories, novels, and essays. Ms. Houston will be discussing her memoir, Finding Hope in the High Country, which one admirer, author Cheryl Strayed, has called a "book for all of us, right now," perhaps an allusion to the need in tumultuous times for a calming perspective. Her work has been included in Best American Short Stories, Best American Short Stories of the Century, and she is a winner of the O. Henry Award and the Pushcart Prize. One description of the work she'll be discussing reads, "On her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, beloved writer Pam Houston learns what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it.”
Kim Stanley Robinson
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Kim Stanley Robinson will be the first speaker in 2022 on Thursday, February 3. According to a New Yorker article, Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers," while The Atlantic magazine described him as "the gold-standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing." He will be discussing his disturbingly timely novel, The Ministry for the Future, which has been described as is a masterpiece of the imagination that uses fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all not in a post-apocalyptic world, but rather a future that is almost upon us. Barack Obama chose the novel as one of his favorite books of the year. Robinson has authored nineteen novels, and he has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the World Fantasy Award.
Nancy Econome
Thursday, April 14, 2022
The FOL lecture series' final presentation on April 14, 2022, will be by Nancy Econome who will discuss her debut novel, The Classic Grill—A Tale of Greek Gods and Immigrant Heroes. The book is a family drama at the opening of WWII centered around The Classic Grill, a successful Vallejo Greek restaurant, and the tensions that arise when a favored son makes clear he has no intention of entering the family business but is bent instead on performing as an actor of ancient Greek drama. As a Greek American, Ms. Econome enjoyed creating this fictional world that honors the past but reflects current events. Her background includes work as a reporter, screenplay writer, and administrative positions in the wine industry.
Lecture Archives
- 10/8/20 – Martell Lecture: A Conversation with Sasha Abramsky
- 10/28/20 – Town & Gown: Making Sense of an Election Like No Other
- 11/17/20 – Town & Gown: Implicit Bias: Ending Systemic Racism One Decision-Maker at a Time
- 12/9/20 – Martell Lecture: Nancy Davis Kho
- 4/15/21 – Martell Lecture: Jennifer Laam