tolstoy saying in an 1873 letter that he’d be done with anna karenina “in fifteen days, if god grants me life” and then taking another four years to finish writing it is both hilarious and deeply relatable
This week, #RiverheadLovesLibrarians celebrates Programming and Marketing Librarian at the Santa Barbara Public Library: Molly Wetta. For Molly, “librarianship is very much a political act, rooted in [her] commitment to social justice.” And how can librarians be champions for the marginalized? By “reading widely and diversely in their personal lives, and collecting, highlighting, and championing the works of diverse authors in their libraries.” Molly, we salute you, and we agree. Read Molly’s full interview on Facebook and Tumblr to learn how and why she left her “soul-sucking job working in finance” to become a librarian and advocate for social change.
RH: What is your favorite Riverhead Book and why?
MW: All-time favorite? This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz. The cadence of the writing makes it so easy to fall into the story, and the voice is so intimate. But really? It’s just so damn funny. Runners up from 2015 is Barbara the Slut, an amazing collection of short stories, and this year I’m raving about The Mothers, because I love a story about secrets. She’s a debut to watch.
RH: What are you reading now? And/or what’s next on your to-be-read list?
MW: I’m almost finished with Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler, a fun retelling of The Taming of the Shrew from Hogarth. And to be perfectly honest, I just started the first Anita Blake novel by Laurell K. Hamilton on my Kindle. The title is Guilty Pleasures, but I don’t feel guilty at all about my love of vampire urban fantasy, and it’s one that I haven’t read before.
RH: Why did you decide to become a librarian?
MW: I quit my soul-sucking job working in finance, enrolled in grad school to get my Masters in Social Welfare program, and then got a part-time job at my local library. A couple months later, Nancy Pearl called me on the phone to ask me some questions about a Hunger Games read-alike flowchart I’d made that she was featuring in her Publisher’s Weekly column. She asked me for my title and credentials, and I was like, “teen library assistant and book nerd.” She said I was a born readers’ advisor and should probably just become a librarian. I took the leap and enrolled in library school instead of my MSW program after I read Mary O'Connell’s The Sharp Time and thought how much of a difference it would have made in my life if someone had handed me a book like it when I was a teenager. I thought I could do as much social justice work in libraries and also help people find books that would make a difference in their lives.
RH: What book are you recommending right now?
MW: This year I can’t shut up about Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff, The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner, and Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, and Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam.
RH: What is your favorite – or the most rewarding – part of your job?
MW: I love that libraries provide access to information, technology, and community spaces. We are so much more than books. Still, what I love most about working in libraries is putting a book that has the potential to change someone’s life in their hands.
RH: Anything else you’d like to mention?
MW: For me, librarianship is very much a political act, rooted in my commitment to social justice. Reaching underserved populations and championing the voices of those who are marginalized is (for me) the most important part of my job. To that end, I think librarians should be reading widely and diversely in their personal lives, and collecting, highlighting, and championing the works of diverse authors in their libraries.
Riverhead Books loves libraries and librarians, and I definitely love their books. Plus their marketing assistant Alex is pretty fun to chat with.
