Libraries are Training Grounds for Writers by Kimberly G. Giarratano

February 14, 2023 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

Libraries are training grounds for writers by Kimberly G. Giarratano

My publishing journey started alongside my librarian career. After five years of teaching in New Jersey public schools, I was burnt out. I loved my students, but hated the politics, so I got a master’s degree in library science, thinking I’d work in an archive or something. Except the first job I applied for was as a children’s librarian in North Jersey. After all, I had taught elementary students so it seemed like a natural fit — until I realized the director had never hired a young adult librarian. Their teen collection was practically non-existent. “Well,” I said. “I can fix that.” And I was hired.

Prior to the position, I had only read one young adult novel — this was in the mid-naughts. Stephenie Meyer was at the peak of fame, and every publisher angling for readers was churning out vampire stories. Honestly, it was all to my delight. As a teen in the nineties, there was little for me in the way of young adult literature. I was either reading Christopher Pike or Michael Crichton, sometimes John Grisham — whatever my mother happened to leave on her nightstand.

Suddenly as an adult, I was inundated with speculative fiction about vampires, ghosts, angels and faeries. And then came the realism — John Green and Sarah Dessen. And science fiction and dystopia! I was excited, and teens were excited. I distinctly remember book-talking The Hunger Games to a bunch of middle school students. One of those boys actually came into my library to request the book! “I can’t believe that works,” I had told my colleague.

As I voraciously read through every new YA book that landed on my desk, I fell in love with the storytelling. Young adult literature is fast-paced, emotive, progressive and hella creative. All I could think was that I could write something like that.

For context, it wasn’t as if I had decided to run the New York City Marathon after years of couch-surfing. I had always been a writer in some respect. I was the news editor for my college paper. As a history major, I wrote a bazillion research reports, including an honors thesis on Jewish farming schemes in 1920s Mexico, which I cite because it’s still one of my most proudest, if slightly random, achievements. I had even volunteered to edit our community newsletter simply because I couldn’t stomach the grammatical errors. The only thing holding me back from creative writing was I had this insane notion that I needed a degree to do it. I needed proper training. Turns out, I had gotten a lot of the training I needed reading for my job.

I once heard this metaphor comparing knitting to writing a book. We all know what sweaters look like — they have two sleeves, a neckline, a hem, maybe stripes. We all know what sweaters feel like — soft, cozy, sometimes even a little scratchy. But that doesn’t mean we have any idea how to knit a sweater. And despite having written most of my life, I still had no idea how to knit a sweater, or more specifically, write a damn book.

But I tried, sitting at a behemoth of a desktop in the staff room and modeling my words after Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. What became my debut novel, Grunge Gods and Graveyards, started out as a Google Doc on my lunch breaks. It would take years over the course of two pregnancies before I finally finished a messy first draft. It would take an additional six months to revise it, and another year to get it published. And so my author career began typing away in (what was basically) a storage room, trying to emulate the authors on the shelves beside me.

My debut adult novel, Death of a Dancing Queen, is being published Valentine’s Day. This private eye novel is the lead title for Angry Robot’s new crime fiction imprint, Datura Books. When I first met my editor, (shout out, Eleanor!), I blurted, “I want to be in libraries.” As an indie author, the only library that carries my book is my local branch down the street. But as a traditionally-published author, I knew the potential for libraries to buy Death of a Dancing Queen would be greater if the book was reviewed in trade journals.

Librarians rely on reviews to build their collection. If Death of a Dancing Queen was to be borrowed by readers that I am not related to, it needed to be on library shelves. And I am so pleased to tell you that it has received glowing reviews from Library Journal, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly. And just from some minor Googling (*ahem* major), I have seen that a few libraries already have it on order.

If you happen to see Death of a Dancing Queen in your library, please snap a photo and tag me in it, and let the circulation desk know that a librarian wrote it.

You can reach me:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KGGiarratano

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimgarnickgiarratano/

Website: https://www.kimberlyggiarratano.com/

DEATH OF A DANCING QUEEN

A female Jewish P.I finds herself involved in a deadly gang war while looking for a murder suspect in this new own voices crime novel.

After her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Billie Levine revamped her grandfather’s private investigation firm and set up shop in the corner booth of her favorite North Jersey deli hoping the free pickles and flexible hours would allow her to take care of her mom and pay the bills. So when Tommy Russo, a rich kid with a nasty drug habit, offers her a stack of cash to find his missing girlfriend, how can she refuse? At first, Billie thinks this will be easy earnings, but then her missing person’s case turns into a murder investigation and Russo is the detective bureau’s number one suspect.

Suddenly Billie is embroiled in a deadly gang war that’s connected to the decades-old disappearance of a famous cabaret dancer with ties to both an infamous Jewish mob and a skinhead group. Toss in the reappearance of Billie’s hunky ex-boyfriend with his own rap sheet, and she is regretting every decision that got her to this point.Becoming a P.I. was supposed to solve her problems. But if Billie doesn’t crack this case, the next body the police dredge out of the Hudson River will be hers.

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