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I owe libraries so much um... I
started reading at libraries, of course when I was little I would get a huge
garbage bag
and take home an entire plastic bag full of books
and I also owe libraries for my newest novel because um...
I wrote about the orphan trains and
I wouldn't have known about that whole historical era if it hadn't been for...
I guess it five or six years ago I walked into my library and there was a huge display
uh... informing me
about the orphan trains and it was such an interesting poster board triptic
educational thing so I went home and read about it and it actually found
its way into my newest novel
i probably check out
between me and my young daughter i probly checkout two hundred and fifty
library books a year. Easily.
I use it to research for my novel
I use it for pleasure reading i use it for
coming up with new ideas what kinds of
things I want to write about and i'm so grateful for libraries and librarians.
I do, the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Kansas.
uh... i would have to say
linda who is the public, the children's librarian
and she is so kind and warm
to young readers and
encouraging them to read all the and at the same time she stays very current with adult contemporary fiction.
I feel terrible about library budget cuts
I'm proud that in town
we all just got together and voted
for improvements on our library and it was a very contentious battle because
as we know
everybody is under budget pressures right now but the community as a whole we really
voted to sustain our library and i'm so glad we did
i think they're the heart of the community and...they really are.
They are the heart of the community it's so important to have one you know as a
physical space
where people can come and read about books and
it's not about commerce, it's not about buying and
selling, it's a place
of sharing knowledge and ideas and i think they're essential for community.
I think there's this, for people who don't know librarians, they sort of think oh
a librarian is
this very sort of conservative...
stuffy, woman
who sits alone in a...
and they're actually these radical people who fight hard
against banning books and they will not back
you know and they are on the forefront of making sure books don't get banned
and i think that's amazing and they're politically active about it and i think
that's wonderful and i respect the hard work that they do.
My latest project, after "The Chaparone", or "The Chaparone"? The new book
that just came out
as I said I was walking into my Lawrence public library and i saw this
display about orphan trains so that figures into the book
But the other thing is, I was browsing in a book store and i came across a biography of Louise Brooks
the 1920's film star
and i was reading about her and i realized she grew up in
Wichita, Kansas
and she was beautiful
smart, she was arrogant, condescending
witty, funny, mean
um... self-destructive, brilliant
and she was all these things even when she was 15 and then I read
that when she was 15
she got into the Denishawn Dance School
and she...
was allowed to go to new york city for the summer but she had to bring
along a chaparone
and in her biography it doesn't say much about the chaparone
she sort of lost, the history was Louise Brooks became
one of the most famous actresses of the twenties
and i thought well that would have been so interesting
to watch someone try to chaparone Louise Brooks
so I invented this entire history
for Cora Carlisle my invented chaparone
and she and Louise Brooks go to New York City together in the summer of 1922