I have a favorite branch of the New York Public Library in Manhattan: the Jefferson Market branch on Sixth Avenue in the Village. I love the winding stone stairway, the high ceilings, the cool and airy rooms, and of course the selection of books. They have a great fiction section and a wonderful YA room. The place also has some fascinating history.

I’ve been visiting this particular branch of the library for years—and in fact I’ve blogged about it before.

This branch of the library has felt like home to me for a long time. On days when I feel gloomy or frustrated or stressed I’d find myself walking up Sixth Avenue and making an excuse to go up to the fiction section and just look, just to see what new books were in. (It’s rare I come home without at least one.) Just being inside the library could calm a foul mood within minutes. Sometimes, some days I used to get off the subway on the north end after my day job and go drifting through the stacks and tell myself—silently, it’s a library after all—that I’d be a writer one day and one day a book I wrote would be here. How silly it sounds to tell you that I did that, except here I am typing this and… it’s come true.

I admit I’ve fingered the place in the stacks where I might be one day… and gave a glorious yelp in the children’s room upon finding Dani Noir. I can’t wait for the day I see Imaginary Girls (I hope I hope I hope) in the YA room upstairs.

But tonight Imaginary Girls will be there for sure. And I’ll be with it.

I’m one of the readers at Teen Author Reading Night at the Jefferson Market branch of the library TONIGHT, Wednesday July 6. Here’s the lineup:

JULY 6—TEEN AUTHOR READING NIGHT

6–7:30 pm, Jefferson Market Branch of NYPL, corner of 6^th Ave and 10^th St

Tara Altebrando, Dreamland Social Club

Matt Blackstone, A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie

Christopher Grant, Teenie

Alissa Grosso, Popular

Sarah Darer Littman, Want to Go Private?

Blake Nelson, Recovery Road

Gae Polisner, The Pull of Gravity

Nova Ren Suma, Imaginary Girls

Melissa Walker, Small Town Sinners

Maybe I’ll see you there?