A Pulitzer Prize, several New York Times best-selling novels and a position as a Newsweek magazine columnist are considerable aspirations for a copy editor.

But Anna Quindlen, who will speak at 7:30 tonight at the John H. Mulroy Civic Center in downtown Syracuse, has achieved all three, nearly 30 years after beginning her career at the New York Post.

‘It’s a great plum for Syracuse to have her come and speak,’ said Jim Shahin, a visiting assistant professor of magazine journalism..

Quindlen will speak as part of the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series, produced by the Friends of the Central Library.

The series is the largest library-related lecture in the United States, said Kathleen Wojslaw, president of the board of directors of the Friends of the Central Library. Now in its ninth year, the series is sponsoring six more lectures through May. Quindlen’s speech is the series premiere, and Wojslaw expects a large attendance.

‘Everybody’s excited to see her,’ Wojslaw said. ‘We’re hoping to sell out tomorrow, and that’s about 2,100 people.’

Quindlen will speak about reading and libraries for about 45 minutes, and then lead a question-and-answer session until she leaves around 9:30 p.m., Wojslaw said.

Before her fictional writing career took off, Quindlen climbed the editorial ladder at The New York Times to become the third woman to ever write a regular column for its opinion and editorial page, according to her official website.

‘She was a pioneer in humanizing the news,’ Shahin said. ‘She added warmth to a field of op-ed writing not known for warmth, but known for its hard edge. She showed you can have a brain and a soul.’

But Quindlen did not earn her position at the newspaper easily. Instead, she worked steadily with a determination that most students should emulate, Shahin said.

‘Anna Quindlen exemplifies the grit that we try to instill in the student population,’ Shahin said. ‘No one starts at the top. She proves that if you have what it takes and persevere, you can succeed at the very top of your field.’

While a senior at Barnard College in New York City, Quindlen sold her senior thesis of a collection of short stories to Seventeen magazine. She began work at the New York Post in 1974 after graduating, and three years later, became a general assignment reporter at The New York Times.

Quindlen advanced to a columnist role at The Times and earned much acclaim after her ‘Public and Private’ column won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, according to her website. A 1993 collection of these columns, ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ earned a spot on the Times best-seller list for more than three months.

‘I wish I could see things the way she does,’ Wojslaw said. ‘She see things and she writes about them – everyday things and thoughts you’d never think to write about.’

In 1995, Quindlen left The Times to write novels full-time. Her 1991 debut novel, ‘Object Lessons,’ and 1994’s, ‘One True Thing,’ on which the 1998 motion picture starring Meryl Streep is based, each earned good reviews, according to the Newsweek website.

But with a new focus on her fiction, Quindlen wrote her most best-selling book to date, ‘Black and Blue,’ in 1998. The novel chronicles a woman’s plight to escape her abusive husband by changing her identity and establishing a new life with her young son. It was a Times best-seller for six months, and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey selected it for her book club, according to the Newsweek site.

‘Blessings,’ released in September 2002, is her most recent novel.

An author who tries to write and publish a novel directly after college usually finds great difficulty because the number of people creatively writing has boomed, said Robert Gates, chairman of the English department at Syracuse University. A writer would need to be extremely talented and lucky, and must also have connections in the publishing world.

‘It’s very hard for anybody to make a living as a writer for a career,’ Gates said. ‘In journalism, there’s a job; you know what you’re getting into. With novels, you’re not working for a salary.’

Quindlen’s voice is not completely absent from the realm of political and social commentary. Her biweekly column in Newsweek magazine, ‘The Last Word,’ analyzes and reflects on contemporary issues and events. Recent column topics include a critique of the war and current administration, the former Times reporter Jayson Blair, and societal commentary on the book, ‘She’s Not There,’ based on author Jenny Boylan’s experiences and life as a transsexual.

‘She’s a journalist, she writes non-fiction, she writes fiction and she’s a Pulitzer Prize winner,’ Wojslaw said. ‘There’s not too much she hasn’t done.’

Published on October 14, 2003 at 12:00 pm