Debut Author Interviews

Describe your favorite library.

• Heather Tomlinson on...Favorite Library
• Tiffany Trent on...Favorite Library
• Melissa Marr on...Favorite Library
• Rebecca Stead on...Favorite Library
• Paula Chase on...Favorite Library
• Thatcher Heldring on...Favorite Library
• A.C.E. Bauer on...Favorite Library
• Rose Kent on...Favorite Library
• Sarah Beth Durst on...Favorite Library
• Carrie Jones on...Favorite Library
• S.A. Harazin on...Favorite Library
• Laura Bowers on...Favorite Library

Describe your favorite library.

The Thousand Oaks Library (http://www.toaks.org/library/) completed a fabulous new children’s wing in 2006. Opening day was a happening! Local children’s writers had a tent in the parking lot, along with many community organizations, and it was a kick to see so many families celebrating their local library. There’s a storytelling corner, giant aquarium, comfy nooks to read in, computer workstations, lots of light, and tons of books. Hopefully at some point the teen space can be upgraded, too.

Describe your favorite library.

My favorite library is the new Hollins University Library. It has beautiful round picture windows that rise for two stories. There are columns and leather wing chairs. The walls are a soft yellow. There is silence. It’s a place that simply invites daydreaming and writing.

Describe your favorite library.

I’m not good with picking just one. The NCSU library had a dark little room downstairs where they kept scholarly journals. I liked that. Duke had stacks that always made me feel like something was going to creep out at me. I liked that too. UNC had an airy wide open space and so many awesome texts it made me wander happily. The Carnegie Library has gorgeous stairs that make me glad when I forget things and must go up and down them again. Oceanside CA has a fabulous used bookstore inside the library. Altoona PA has the library that fed my book habit as a child. My current local library is letting me give a workshop for teens. The community college where I taught has a library that actually made me late for my interview there. They said, “Wait in the library until __,” but they had to come get me because there were so many great books and these comfy chairs … I like libraries. I’ve yet to find one I don’t like.

Describe your favorite library.

My favorite library is one I sneak into to write.
It is not too small and not too big.
It has small, open balconies with writing tables.
There is gorgeous woodwork and inspirational stained glass (all those shards painstakingly assembled — kind of like a novel)
People there are quiet and focused on work.
The librarians look the other way if you bring coffee.
Obviously, I can’t tell you where it is.

Describe your favorite library.

Normally, I don’t like to play favorites. But…my fav local library is the Broadneck Branch. It’s a small library and its hours are odd. When I lived closer to it I had a terrible time remembering when they were open. But at the very back of the branch is this carpeted bench built into the wall, near the Children’s section. It sits up against a window, which only gives you a view of bushes because the entire area is “sunken.”

I used to take my daughter there and let her sit in the circular area in front of the bench, while I sat slightly above her soaking in the warmth that came in through the windows.

It was incredibly cozy.

I think one of the reasons B&N and Borders grew in popularity is the warmth of the atmosphere. In many, it feels very much like a library should feel.

Describe your favorite library.

I moved back to Seattle after eight years in New York and was blown away by the libraries. I had read articles about the main branch, which attracted national attention even before construction began, but it was really the neighborhood branches that made my eyes pop. Many, if not all of them, have been redone in the time I have been gone. They all conform to a certain style, but are by no means identical. All seem to feature high ceilings, glass exteriors, ample seating, rows and rows of computers, helpful staff I would like to have a pint with, parking, and self-service check out. Maybe all these things are standard where you live, but they weren’t in New York and they weren’t when I left, so, the bottom line is: this first-time author is IMPRESSED. The first branch I went into was the Greenwood Branch. I entered and spent the first five minutes gazing up, down, and around like those kids in the Bridge to Terabithia ads. Like I said, all the branches are great, but since that’s the closest to my house, I’ll call it my favorite. Go Greenwood!

Describe your favorite library.

My favorite library is one I have spent only a little time in: the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale. On the outside, the place looks like a white Rubik’s Cube. The walls are made of panels of thin marble, so thin they let light through. When you walk in on a sunny day, you enter an open area lit by warm, transluscent walls, you see displays of beautiful, ancient manuscripts, and you know that you are in the presence of some of the rarest books in the world. It takes my breath away.

Describe your favorite library.

Tough, tough question. Libraries are a little like ice cream flavors. There really aren’t any bad ones, are there? As long as there is a chair available, a helpful librarian in sight, and plenty of books around, I feel at home. I’ve lived in many towns and communities and I’ve been fortunate to find them everyone.

Of course I love the William T. Sanfory Library in Albany. That hits all the requirements on the above checklist.

Wasn’t it Ben Franklin who created the first public library? Here’s to Ben…

Describe your favorite library.

I have loved nearly every library that I’ve ever been to because they all have free books. For some reason, that always makes me giddy, and I come home with about twenty per visit. I have zero self-restraint in libraries.

I do need to give a shout-out to my hometown library, the Northboro Public Library, because it kindled my love of libraries and because it appears in my book (INTO THE WILD). Also my current local library, the Emma Clark Library, because it’s children’s room is gorgeous and because they have a drool-worthy collection of MG/YA books.

Describe your favorite library.

Yep. I too am a library slut.
Give me a library and I’ll show it love.

What makes me love them?

Is it the free books aspect that Sarah Beth loves? Yep.

Is it the cool librarians who don’t get mad at me when I take out 30 books at a time? Yep.

Is it the way some libraries are tiny and cramped and book shelves reach the ceiling. Yep.

Is the way some libraries are huge and gothic and full of secrets? Yep.

Is it the way the hold stories on their shelves, protecting them, holding them safely until a hand reaches out and opens up a spine.

God, yes.

I love them all. Call me a Library Slut. I don’t care. I don’t care. It’s true.

Describe your favorite library.

I love all libraries, but I have an extra place in my heart for the library that allowed me to pay my late fees in installments.

Describe your favorite library.

I’m a root-for-the-home-team kind of gal, so my favorite will always be the library in my home town. It’s right off of our historic Main Street, and has a beautiful court yard in the front. There’s plenty of cozy sofas, plenty of tables, plenty of books—what more could you want!

I also love the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, which is one of the oldest free public library systems in the United States. So gorgeous! I went there once with my husband to do book research, and at first—I was in too much awe to concentrate! http://www.prattlibrary.org