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Commemorating Carolyn See's Literary World

By Melissa Totten
July 15, 2016
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The late Carolyn See was pleased to be known as one third of Monica Highland, the pen name given to the esteemed author of a short series of epic novels about multi-generational, multi-ethnic Los Angeles families. The Monica books were “airplane literature for smart people.”

In 1989, KCET visited with Carolyn, her partner John Espey and her daughter Lisa See for an arts and culture episode of TV series "Take 5." The trio was “the multi-faceted personality” behind Ms. Highland, who, according to the author’s bio blurb, was “born in Shanghai, was a Van de Kamp waitress, studied demotic Greek in Thessaloniki, and is a Rhodes Scholar.”

Monica Highland’s name was inspired by the intersection of Santa Monica and Highland Boulevards, and was clearly an invention that gave her creators a lot of pleasure. Lisa See, remembers Monica Highland this way: "We had so much fun writing those books, so to me Monica Highland brings back memories of drinking champagne, family love, and laughing our heads off."

We remember Carolyn, who passed away at age 82 on Wednesday, as more than a beloved California author, book reviewer, teacher and “poet laureate of Topanga Canyon." We remember her as a genuine smart-aleck with an irrepressible laugh.

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