When asked about the inspiration for my novel, I answer simply: “I love libraries.” Libraries of all shapes and sizes; new libraries and old libraries; libraries here, there, and everywhere. That said, the vintage, small-town, Midwestern Carnegie libraries hold a speci...

Grandma Ruby homesteaded in Oklahoma long before the libraries were built. An avid reader, she waited eagerly for the arrival of her Women's Home Companion every month, carefully rationing it into thirty parts so there would be something to read every day. Raising six...

How I'd like to tell you my novel has been germinating since kindergarten. After all, my elementary school was named after Mary Cornelia Lee, the librarian of Manhattan's Carnegie library, who served from the time it opened in 1904 until 1942. The truth is I didn't fig...

Andrew Carnegie made his first contribution of a library in Dumfermline, Scotland, where he was born in a weaver's cottage. He made his fortune after his family immigrated to the United States. Before his death, he donated over $56 million for the construction of over...

How did I miss this one? Just picked up at my local branch, a book full of photographs of libraries. Essays too, including a foreword by Bill Moyers and an afterword by Ann Patchett. Check it out!

Yes, I'm collecting! Won't these be swell raffle prizes at book signings? Certainly proof that I'm not the only one who's nostalgic for all things library!

My friend Elena Acevedo Dalcourt snapped this image of the Kansas motto while wandering around Little Italy in San Diego.  Don't you love it?

Do you think the poet understood how powerful these "prettty girls" were? Just saying. Women like these made those libraries happen.