If you read my post from August 13th, you know I attended the Bigelow Free Library Romance Day Book and reader event yesterday.
To say it was a resounding success would not do it justice. It was phenomenal.
10 authors, moi included, spent from 10am until 12:30 pm speaking, chatting, and discussing books with a never-ending crowd of readers who were excited to see us, learn about our stories, and buy our books.
I met sosososo many amazing women who have now become new-to-me-readers, that I was over the moon. Still am.
I love – really love – doing library events.
Libraries are the educational and knowledge backbone of this country. What is being done to them with defunding and book banning right now is a national disgrace, and I wish more people were speaking out against these budget cuts.
If you know anything about me, you know I was practically raised in my public library as a kid. My mother worked full-time and couldn’t afford child care or an after-school babysitter, so every day from second grade on ( I was 7) I was left to walk myself home from school. Instead of going home to an empty apartment and watching television for hours until she came home, I walked to my local library, which was halfway between school and home, every day and sat, did my homework, and read myself through the children’s section of books.
The lovely librarians became my childcare providers. They asked me about my day, helped me with homework when I needed it, and recommended age-appropriate books for me to read. They truly fostered my lifelong love of reading. They became my mentors, my responsible adults, and ultimately, my friends.
My very first piece of identification, other than my birth certificate, was my library card. I still have one, even now in the digital age!
It’s surprising I didn’t grow up to be a librarian. But my path was pointed in a different direction.
To this day my love of libraries is still huge. I support my local one financially, with book donations, through their bi-annual book sales, and as a FRIEND OF THE LIBRARY, an organization that helps them defray and offset the budget costs they’ve faced.
I could probably do a dissertation on why book banning is so inherently wrong, but that’s a post for another day.
For now, I want to publicly thank Marie LeTarte, the director of the Bigelow Library, for hosting my fellow authors and me and for making National Romance Day one for us all to look back on with fond remembrance.
I’ve already got 2027 penciled in for National Romance Day at the Bigelow Free Library!
Peggy Jaeger, Author 