For twenty years the CLA has presented the preeminent literary series in the region, bringing to San José writers such as Arthur Miller, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, Allen Ginsberg, Derek Walcott, J.M. Coetzee, Russell Banks, Ken Kesey, Adrienne Rich and Edward Albee: winners of 5 Nobel Prizes for Literature, 14 National Book Awards, and 28 Pulitzer Prizes. See a full list of writers hosted by the CLA. The CLA showcases each writer in multiple events: readings, seminars, public conversations, and appearances at high school creative writing workshops (see next column).

Nearly all of these events have been documented on videotape. Many constitute primary literary material available nowhere else.

CLA/Mt. Pleasant Series
Writers from the CLA Major Authors and Emerging Authors Series visit Mt. Pleasant High School to give readings and participate in creative writing workshops. The readings and classes are held at Mt. Pleasant High School in San José’s East Side Union High School District. Readings are open to creative writing students from other high schools.