A Writer in LibraryLand by Kathy Anderson

By Kathy Anderson

Today I’m the author of a novel, The New Town Librarian (NineStar Press, 2023). But once upon a time, I was a new town librarian in real life. Fresh out of graduate school with my Master of Library Science degree, I was hired as the director of a small-town public library in southern New Jersey. I was already a writer, but I needed to make a living in a way that fed my writing life. What better place than a public library?  

As a lesbian who came out in the 1970s, it was also important for me to work in a profession that supported me as a human being. When I discovered that the American Library Association formed the first LGBTQIA+ professional organization in the nation in 1970, that sealed the deal for me. Throughout my career, I was proud to be active in what is now called their Rainbow Round Table, working to get queer books into libraries, still needed so urgently today.

In LibraryLand, I was surrounded by books and information, the richest of tools for a writer. And I was instantly immersed in the stories and needs of the people who used the library. A woman asked me for poems to read at the bedside of her dying mother. A man who vividly recalled witnessing a UFO as a child asked me to find newspaper articles from his hometown documenting the event. A mother needed a book to help her to explain to her young children that their father was gay. These are just a few examples of the countless life stories I was privileged to be part of, eye-opening experiences that were sparks of inspiration for me. 

The public library is a true community hub for all kinds of people. I know of no other public space that is open to all, requires no purchase to enter and enjoy, and has something valuable to offer every single person who comes in. For a writer, working in a library means being exposed to the immense varieties of human existence—what a tremendous gift. The stories that I heard or overheard hugely expanded my knowledge of the dramas of everyday life, which would become central to my fiction. So much went on in people’s lives and so many of them came to the library seeking help and answers.

They needed grief recovery guides, help with computers, vegetarian cookbooks, car repair manuals, medical databases, beekeeping and chicken-raising handbooks, toilet training how-tos, test books for college admission and job promotions, birthing books, resume templates, and so much more. 

It was dizzying to be exposed to so many subcultures in our country, from motorcycle clubs to square dancers, from homeschoolers to cyclists, from punk rockers to survivalists—and they all had their own wants and needs from the library. 

Readers shared their Jersey Devil encounters (it’s a South Jersey thing), business rivalries, vintage attic finds, tragic births and deaths, town secrets, and family generational sagas—all amazing fodder for a writer to breathe in. 

Equally enlightening was teenage girls punching each other over a book they both wanted, rolling around on the floor of the Reference Room (of all hallowed places); exhibitionism and flashers on the regular; and neglected children camped out for entire days.

Every day in the library was a revelation in what real people cared about, what they endured, what they wanted, what they loved, what they feared. And these are very things every writer needs to know to create characters that not only feel genuine on the page but are also as surprising as the library users I got to know. I soon realized that every single life contains multitudes of stories, that no writer could ever run out of ideas if they paid attention.

Inspired by my library work, I wrote and published short stories for many years and eventually won the Autumn House Press Fiction Prize and publication of my first book, a short story collection, Bull and Other Stories (Autumn House Press, 2016). I love writing short stories; my second short story collection, Vamoose, is forthcoming from Vine Leaves Press in 2026. 

But it was always my dream to write a novel. It took a long time, though, for the characters and plot to form for what would become The New Town Librarian. It took my growing realization that older women are often relegated in novels and on screen to plots involving the dreadful Ds: depression, divorce, dementia, death. Where are the older women like me and my friends, living full-spectrum, juicy, pleasure-filled lives? And, in our youth-obsessed culture, queer older women are almost entirely invisible in books and on screen.

So queer middle-aged librarian Nan Nethercott is the wisecracking hypochondriac protagonist of The New Town Librarian, for readers seeking humor and hope in a story of midlife reinvention. And of course, the novel is set in a public library, a world I know so well. 

I wanted my first novel not only to celebrate older women still growing and having fun, but also to honor and celebrate public libraries as the best places on earth and librarians as invincible forces for good in the world. It’s a love letter and a thank you to Libraryland for the multitudes of gifts it’s given to me as a reader and a writer. 

Dear reader, I’m immensely proud to report that my books are now in libraries across the US, as well as in Australia, Botswana, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, UK, Switzerland, and Turkey.

—

Kathy Anderson is the author of three books: Bull and Other Stories (Autumn House Press, 2016), winner of the Autumn House Press Fiction Prize, finalist for Publishing Triangle’s Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, Lambda Literary Awards, and Foreword INDIES Book Award in Short Stories; The New Town Librarian (NineStar Press, 2023), finalist for Foreword INDIES Book Award for LGBTQ+ Fiction; and Vamoose: Stories (forthcoming from Vine Leaves Press in 2026). She lives with her wife in Philadelphia, PA. kathyandersonwriter.com

The New Town Librarian

Queer middle-aged librarian Nan Nethercott, a wisecracking hypochondriac with a lackluster career and a nonexistent love life, needs to make a drastic life change before it’s too late. When she lands a job as librarian in a seemingly idyllic small town in southern New Jersey, Nan quickly discovers unforeseen challenges.

Nan’s landlady, Immaculata, launches daily intrusions from below. The library, housed in the former town jail, is overrun by marauding middle-schoolers. A mysterious reader leaves distressing messages in book stacks all over the library. Thomasina, the irresistible butch deli owner, is clearly a delicious affair and not the relationship Nan craves.

There’s no turning back though. Nan must come up with her own wildly unorthodox solutions to what the town and its people throw at her and fight for what she wants until she makes a shiny new life—one with her first true home, surprising friends, a meaningful career, and a promising new love.

“A breezy romantic comedy celebrating life’s second chances.” – Kirkus Reviews

“The New Town Librarian is fresh as a summer breeze, full of promise and hope the way Nan describes it, “Hope felt like that third glass of wine on a rainy night, a little luxury to warm herself by.”” – Larry Benjamin, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers