Q: Libraries are beloved for their sense of community. Do you remember a time when your library made you feel like a part of something bigger?
A: My mother used to drive me into town to visit the Chester Public Library. Our home was fairly isolated, in the woods of upstate New York, and this was always a thrilling journey into the wider world. The road to the library was called King’s Highway, and led through stunning green hills and farmland. I remember gazing through the open window with rising excitement, we were going to be at the library any moment now and my mother would read aloud to me any book I chose. We could travel anywhere! The four or five aisles of books in that one-room library made me feel as if the whole world was waiting to be discovered. All we had to do was open a book and let it welcome us into its story.
Q: What do you remember checking out of the library as a kid?
A: I remember checking out The Wind in the Willows when I must have been four or five. It was a beautiful book with sketches of the story. My older sister had read the book, and I’d heard her talking about it with our mother, who also loved the story. I was desperate to read it, too. But I hadn’t yet learned to read, so I just looked at the pictures, tried to remember what I’d heard my sister saying about the book, and imagined what the story could be. A few years later, when I could read on my own, I checked out book and fell in love with the story.
Q: What role did libraries have in your writing process, if any, for Boy from the North Country?
A: I live around the corner from the Yorkville branch of the New York Public Library, and spent many afternoons in the silence and sunlight of that library. I live in an old walk-up apartment that my mother first moved into in 1974, and she used to read and write in that same library, too. The novel is in part about her recounting that period of her life to me, and it felt truly special to know that we were connected through the library, that she had also spent quiet afternoons reading and writing in that same place.
Q: Do you have a favorite library memory? Either from doing research for Boy from the North Country, or just browsing the shelves?
A: I remember the first time I came into my college library. It was the largest library I had ever seen. I remember walking the endless shelves and seeing so many books I wanted to read and feeling more certain than I ever had before that this was my path, to read and write and spend my days in the presence of books. When I’ve struggled on my road, I’ve always found comfort in that memory, of knowing that the books are not going anywhere, that this is where I want to be.
Q: Boy from the North Country is your debut novel. Have you always wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to write this story?
A: Oh, no, I would have far preferred to be a wizard or a basketball player. But I couldn’t cut it in those lines of work.
I knew after my mother’s death that I had to write this novel. I needed a place to keep her wisdom, courage, and love, and my memories of our life together. This book became that place.
Q: If you could say one thing to librarians right now, what would it be?
A: Thank you for everything. No matter how dire our political moment, how intent the book banners or budget cutters, the need for and love of books is too strong to ever fully suppress. Right now, in a library in this country, there is a child whose world is being transformed by the book she is reading. That child is laughing, or crying, or understanding herself in a new way––and that is thanks to the dedication and love of all those who have given their lives to our precious libraries. That can never be taken away.
