“My fondest memory of the library is going to New Jersey’s Woodbridge Public Library—the main library. I loved everything about it. I loved the look of the building—a massive 70s-era modernist building. I loved that bridge that arcs over the entrance. If you went under it, you went to the children’s section. If you crossed over it, you were on the adult floors—which is where my two older sisters went, so of course I wanted to tag along. It all felt so epic.”

“I could talk for hours about libraries—why I need them, what they provide, what threats they face—but what I’ve learned is that a librarian is the perfect main character for a novel because librarians know absolutely everything about their patrons and their town.”

“In truth, I can’t recall receiving any one specific book recommendation in particular, but I can recall countless times being humbled and inspired by the generosity, patience and kindness demonstrated by librarians serving patrons from every demographic of the population.”

To me, libraries have always been the best sort of magic. They’re everything we should strive to be as a community; welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and filled with stories. I’m hopeful you’ll find that same magic in the final installment of the Lovelight series.

Parents and caregivers are eager for research-based support on raising kids and teens in the digital age. There are a lot of gloom and doom books out there that basically tell us that “smartphones have destroyed a generation.” My book, Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World, offers a different perspective.

“Crow Talk wouldn’t have come be without the encouragement I received from librarians and library patrons over the last two years. I’m so grateful to the libraries and all they do to support writers like me.”

“I felt a sense of belonging in the stacks that I didn’t find elsewhere in my almost entirely white school and town. I spent free periods happily volunteering in my high school library. The summer before college, the school librarian mailed me a check for fifty dollars. Despite my embarrassment that she knew how little we had, I was touched that she believed in me enough to invest in my success… librarians were angels on earth.”

“Library magic is quite real when you’re open to it, which fortunately, I am. To make the magic work, you need to open yourself to possibility and serendipity. Then the library gods take over, guiding your eyeballs to writing that might launch you further into whatever madness brought you to the library in the first place.”

A Q&A with The Manuscripts Club Author Christopher de Hamel.

Inside a drawer in my office desk sits a stash of manilla envelopes. Inside each are some of the letters I have collected over a span of nearly twenty years from high school students across the U.S. In these writings, the students share with me, often quite poignantly, what impact reading The Kite Runner has had on their lives.

“Our library is like the heartbeat of our city.”—Ruta Sepetys
Hear more from inside the audiobook studio as beloved authors share the library love…

I can say without a doubt that I would not be where I am today—or writing books—without the library and librarians.