Dear Librarian,
My love for books always felt genetic, a passion predestined in my blood. In fact, it probably was: both of my grandmothers were librarians. My paternal grandma Phyllis worked for over forty years at her local public school library, Clarkstown High in Nyack, New York. When my father paged her back in 1992, to tell her the news that my mother had just given birth to their quadruplet daughters, Phyllis in turn made a school-wide announcement over the PA system. The news of our birth reverberated against the stacks.
My maternal grandmother Grace received a master’s degree in library science from the Pratt Institute and spent her life surrounded by books, from the Mt. Sinai patient library, to GE’s corporate library, to the public library in Pleasantville, New York, right near my hometown. Grace had an insatiable appetite for literature and a sharp skill for storytelling. Before she passed away in May 2020, she wrote down her favorite childhood memories, tales surrounded by her own loud and always-laughing sisters. It is these stories which inspired me to write my first book, Kismet , dedicated in her memory.
It is perhaps no surprise that libraries have always felt like a second home. Growing up, my mom would take me, my sisters, and our older brother to the local library in Ossining at least twice a week. I can still remember the smell of the pages, the children’s area where we would read for hours. We would spend full afternoons escaping into new worlds, taking solace in the quiet often hard to come by in our own home (we were 5 small kids, after all!). It was clear that a love for reading passed down from our grandmothers, to their children, and now to us, just as hereditary as our round-Chalsen-cheeks and our very loud laughs.
Thank you, thank you, for creating memories like these, traditions that inspire generations of readers. For my debut novel to be in consideration for your library collections feels like its very own kismet, an honor that I know would make both my grandmothers proud.
The ferry awaits, Becky
Chalsen