Chicago authors react to proposed library cuts
Local writers oppose the mayor’s funding reductions.
“A few months ago, I was at the [Harold] Washington Library and mentioned the bookmobiles, and the librarian told me, ‘Oh, we don’t have them anymore. Budget cuts.’ She looked pretty sad when she said this. I can only imagine how sad the librarians are going to be when budget cuts take away their jobs as well as our bookmobiles.”—Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry
“People who care about books—whether they read them or write them—have consistently made this city great. To abandon that tradition is to abandon the belief in the greatness of Chicago.”—Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus Project and a National Book Award finalist
“Rough economic times leave people scrambling for ideas about how to improve things. But things never improve by constricting the minds and imaginations of a city’s people. If anything, in such times we need libraries more than ever.”—Gina Frangello, author of Slut Lullabies
“I don’t know what I’d be without libraries, but I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t be a writer.”—Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest Man, Opening Day and Get Capone
“We show our kids that these buildings aren’t filled with Pokemons or Skittles or Star Wars LEGOS, or any of the things kids think are important. These buildings are filled with books. And when you walk in there, you are quiet. Like in a church. And when you leave with a book, you take care of it. Then you bring it back. Because what’s in that book is a valuable thing we all share. And they get it. When you let those same buildings go empty, or dark, you are showing them the opposite. You might as well just fill them with Skittles.”—Kevin Guilfoile, author of The Thousand and Cast of Shadows
“The budget cuts proposed for the library will, in fact, severely injure a system that serves millions in our community, that betters the lives of families, of the elderly, of the young, of students, of workers.… The Chicago Public Library indisputably functions as an essential engine for the common good. Even those who may not use the library on a regular basis still benefit from living in what is one of the library’s greatest contributions: an educated and informed electorate. I fear that of all the damage these cutbacks will result in, those who will lose the most are the young, the future of our city.”—Stuart Dybek, author of Coast of Chicago, Childhood and Other Neighborhoods, and I Sailed with Magellan
“Beyond all the invaluable practical uses of a neighborhood library, it’s really the last place left that makes a community feel like a community.”—Alex Shakar, author of The Savage Girl, City in Love and Luminarium
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