This week is National Library Week, and amidst the heady hustle and bustle attendant to Even in Darkness receiving a number of national awards, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for the important role that libraries have always played in my reading and teaching life, and now, in my life as an author.
Yes, I was the girl who regularly rode her bike the six blocks to our small public library each week to check out books by the stack. My favorite place to study all the way through my university years was the graduate library at the University of Michigan. As a teacher and speech-language therapist, I was most grateful to school librarians for their support of my curriculum units and my students’ interests. And now, as a debut novelist, some of my very best book events have taken place in libraries. Librarians have hosted my talks, suggested the title for acquisitions, recommended it for book clubs, and voted for book awards.
So thank you,
to Huntington Woods Public Library, University of Michigan Libraries, Ann Arbor District Library, Leelanau Township Library, Grand Rapids Public Library, Astor Judaica Library, West Boynton Branch – Palm Beach County Libraries, Tamarac Branch, Broward County Libraries and the American Library Association, from a grateful fan.