NH Library Profile

This installment in our NH Library Profiles series was contributed by Deborah Longo, Library Director at the Somersworth Public Library, Somersworth, NH. 

Somersworth Public Library, 2015

Somersworth community leaders founded the Manufacturers & Village Library in 1841 to further the education of the 1,500 factory girls working for the Great Falls Manufacturing Company. The first printed catalog listed 1,627 books acquired after five years. By 1887, the library’s directors had leased the second floor of the newly built Chandler Building, moving the library from the mill’s counting house during a time when town and mill relations soured. The library remained in the Chandler Building for 78 years. But in 1899, the library’s name changed when the Manufacturers & Village Library became the newly established and tax-supported Somersworth Public Library.

Chandler Building, Somersworth, NH

By the mid-1960s, the Chandler Building was slated for demolition with the wave of urban renewal sweeping New England. A new site was found on Main Street and the new library held their open house in December 1969. Recent renovations have included air conditioning, carpeting, as well as new furniture provided by the Friends of the Library. New entrances and landscaping have given the library a wonderful facelift to fit in with the City’s multi-million dollar downtown renovation project completed this summer.

Currently the Somersworth Public Library houses a vibrant collection of over 43,000 books, movies, magazines and audiobooks to meet the needs of our community. The library belongs to the NH Downloadable Book Service to bring eBooks, audiobooks and magazines directly to our patrons’ electronic devices. Other services include book discussions, public computers, 24/7 WiFi, and museum passes. The dedicated staff assists each person who enters the library with care, personal attention and professional service, using all resources available both locally and state-wide, To learn more about the Somersworth Public Library, visit our city website at http://www.somersworth.com/departments-services/library and our online catalog at http://somersworth.nhais.bywatersolutions.com/

Book of the Week #44

Haunted Hillsborough County by Eric Stanway (Charleson, SC: Haunted America, History Press, 2014)

"Hillsborough County's haunts, mysteries and mystical places are finally revealed from Nashua to Weare. When a house moved from Dunstable, Massachusetts, to Davis Square in Nashua, its resident poltergeist appeared to feel at home in its new town. Elizabeth Ford seems to have gotten over the tragedy of her death, and now her friendly ghost teases the guests of the Country Tavern on Route 101. Discover the history behind the nasty reputation of Haunted Pond in Francestown, from its grisly fire to its strangely high number of premature deaths. The county's specters float from New Ipswich to the shadows of Amherst, and phantoms linger just around the corner of Wilton's Main Street on the banks of the Souhegan River. Author Eric Stanway takes the reader on a ghostly tour of Hillsborough County history." (publisher's blurb)

Letters About Literature 2016

Students in grades 4-12 are invited to enter Letters About Literature, now in its 23rd year! 

Letters About Literature is a national reading-writing contest sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Students are asked to write to a favorite author—past or present—describing how that author’s work changed the reader’s view of the world. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes. Readers may select authors, living or dead, from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. The competition is coordinated in New Hampshire by the Center for the Book at the NH State Library.

Competition Timeline

• Entries will be accepted beginning November 2, 2015.
  
• All entries MUST be accompanied by a complete and legible entry coupon, which is on the 2015-2016 Guidelines.
  
• Letters entered at Level 3 (grades 9-12) must be postmarked by December 4, 2015.
  
• Letters entered at Level 1 (grades 4-6) and Level 2 (grades 7-8) must be postmarked by January 11, 2016.
  
• New Hampshire semi-finalists will be notified by mail in early April 2016.
  
• A panel of New Hampshire judges will select one letterat each competiion level for the state prize (of $100).
  
• New Hampshire's winning letters will be announced by May 1, 2016.
  
• National winners will be announced in May 2016. 
   

Q&A: Kevin Flynn

Kevin Flynn

There are a lot of wonderful writers living in our state. As the Director of the NH Center for the Book I get the opportunity to talk to many of them. This interview series of Q&As with New Hampshire authors here on Book Notes lets me share that experience a bit with my blog readers. This month I visited with Kevin Flynn who represents the NH Writers' Project on the NH Center for the Book's Advisory Board.

If someone hasn't read your work yet, where should they start?

I’d recommend they pick up Our Little Secret which I wrote with my partner in print and in life, Rebecca Lavoie. Not everyone is familiar with the true crime genre, and many have a preconceived notion of what it is. I think Our Little Secret makes a case that true crime can be riveting, well-written, and three dimensional. In this story, nobody wears a black hat or a white hat; there are just shades of gray. If you like nonfiction, then this would be a good book to start with.

When did you first think of yourself as a writer?

I spent almost 20 years as a broadcast journalist in NH, so I always identified myself as a reporter. After I left television and started asking people for interviews for my first book, I felt reticent. Rebecca asked why and I said, “I’ve always said ‘I’m a reporter’ and people knew I was working for an established outlet. I’m on my own. I can’t say that anymore.” She replied, “You’re not a reporter. You say, ‘I am a writer.’” I had an agent. I had a book deal. I had an advance. That’s when I said, “Yeah, I’m a writer.”

How did you end up living in NH?

I moved here from Western Massachusetts to attend Notre Dame College in Manchester. When I graduated I got a job working eight hours a week at WZID radio. Foot + door = residency.

Where do you like to write?

I have a room that’s a home office/library where I feel “literary.”

I’ll get a table at a local bookstore if I need work outside of the house, but I don’t want to be that jerk who takes up a table the whole day. I’m not like the hipsters typing deep thoughts in their blogs. A publishing deadline is far more inspirational than pretending to be Hemingway in a Spanish café.

How important is place in your writing?

It depends on the story. In Wicked Intentions and Our Little Secret, the idea of bucolic small-town New Hampshire is a key theme. It sets a stark contrast to a violent reality. Other works, like Legally Dead or Notes on a Killing, are more character-driven so setting and place are not as predominate.

What do you do when you aren't writing?

When they don’t stink, I watch the Red Sox. When they do stink, I drink heavily. Mostly, I laugh and laugh about everything with my wife Rebecca. For people who write about murder and mayhem, we’re the most comedic couple you’ll ever meet.

What’s the best piece of advice (writing or otherwise) you were ever given?

Whenever my agent, Sharlene Martin, gets on my butt, she says, “If writing were easy, everybody would do it.” Also, my Dad said, “If you’re going to wear a necktie, look like you’ve worn one all your life.”

What books do you love and what about them speaks to you?

I love everything by John Steinbeck. He infuses every story with humanity and usually the last sentence of the book is the thing that stays with you. I write about real people, but I strive to bring out their humanity too.

What are you working on now?

My next book, out in October 2015, is a solo project; my first foray into the world of historical narrative nonfiction.

American Sweepstakes is the untold story about how New Hampshire bucked the federal ban and started a lottery in 1964, paving the way for the “American daydream.” The Feds, the press, the mob, and the church were all against it. People were actually arrested for possessing New Hampshire Sweepstakes tickets.

What people forget is that first lottery wasn’t a scratch ticket – it was a horse race!

 

What do you want to share that I neglected to ask about?

People always ask what it’s like writing with your wife. We say it’s just like moving a couch for six months. But really, the only thing we ever fight about is how to start the book. It’s the only argument in our marriage I ever win.

You can learn more about Kevin's work (and Rebecca's) at www.authorkevinflynn.com

Book of the Week # 43

The Runaway's Gold by Emilie Christie Burack (NY: Amulet Books, 2015)

New Hampshire resident Emilie Christie Burack was inspired by her own family history to pen this tale set in New York City (during Boss Tweed's childhood) and the Shetland Islands.

"I am apprentice to smith Peter O'Reilly, first cousin of Billy Tweed, who happens to be the only person I know in the City of New York who was actually born here. Billy found me five months before, wandering lost and confused, when I first stumbled off the ship from Liverpool. the O'Reilly Forge shoes horses for the city's high and mighty, and I wouldn't have the work if it wasn't for Billy. Its low ceiling and soot-coated walls on Eighth Street and Broad Way are near Washington Square, where I often wander at dusk, damp grass at me toes, trying not to forget the stark windblown hills of me island home.
Back in me homeland I'm wanted for one crime I committed and one I did not, so having the chance to learn the blacksmith trade is beyond me wildest dreams." (p. 1-2)