Distinguished Author Series returns with ambitious lineup | Arts & Community

Deborah Royce, author of “Reef Road,” Lawrence Reed, author of “From Tyranny to Freedom: The Polish Experience,” and Katherine Reay, author of “The Berlin Letters,” will also appear in the series on Feb. 13, Feb. 29 and March 21, respectively.

Lauren Jones, Newnan Carnegie Library Foundation Board member, said the series was interrupted by the pandemic and this return series took a long time to put together.

“This is the first winter series of this magnitude that we’ve done,” Jones said.

The Edgar B. Hollis Distinguished Author Series debuted in 2012 named after Hollis, a graduate of Newnan High School, who spent much of his career in Washington D.C. at the National Security Agency’s library.

He came back home to Newnan for his final years and left the city a bequest “to benefit Newnan’s citizens in the hopes that many lives in the hometown he loved so much would be touched by his gift,” according to the library’s website.

“When we were talking with the executor of his will, (the executor) felt like he should be recognized for that,” Jones said. “(Hollis) was in the library world and this was just the perfect fit.”

Since then, the Newnan Carnegie Library Foundation has been able to offer a series of events in his name. They’ve not all been authors, she said. One year, they had a series of displays from the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the University of Georgia. The library brought…