Celebrate National Library Week at the Port Jefferson Free Library with Six Local Authors from the "Sisters in Crime" Long Island Chapter! Meet Charlene Knadle, author and President of Long Island Chapter of Sisters in Crime

On Saturday April 20, 2013 at 2pm in the Reading Room the Port Jefferson Free Library will be hosting an extra special National Library Week Celebration Event!

When at the Public Library Association Library Conference last year, librarian Monica Williams made the acquaintance of a group of mystery writers Sisters in Crime http://www.sistersincrime.org/. Sisters in Crime an organization composed of publishers, editors, readers, and librarians who are fans of mysteries and are united by their support of women mystery authors and a. Sisters in Crime is an American Library Association “Library Champion” and offers a “We Love Libraries” award which is a $1,000 grant that is to be used towards the purchase of books. In August 2012 Monica Williams entered the Port Jefferson Free Library as a possible candidate for the award. Word came in January that the Port Jefferson Free Library was the winner. Sisters in Crime has a Long Island Chapter and six authors will be visiting the Library on April 20. Each author will be discussing her own works.

All are invited to attend this event. There is no sign up required. We hope you will be able to stay after the presentation and award presentation for author signings. Light refreshments will be served.

Several members of the Long Island Chapter of Sisters in Crime kindly consented to be interviewed via email. Questions were sent  and the authors sent back their replies. This is the first in a series of author interviews. Sisters in Crime Long Chapter President Charlene B. Knadle discusses her work as a writer and how she came to Long Island.

MW:. Where are you from originally? If not a LI native, how did you end up on Long Island?

CK:   I'm from mid-America--Michigan, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri, in that

order. I came to Long Island when friends offered to house me while I

interviewed for a teaching position. I was hired at the junior-high level

after my first interview, in the South Huntington school district. Later I

moved to the Elwood district to teach at John Glenn High School. I continued

my education here (masters and doctorate) and began writing for publication

and teaching at the college level.

  I've been a Long Islander for several decades.

MW:. How did you get interested in mysteries?

CK:   No one can resist a good mystery!  Starting with "Snow White" and such

tales, we internalize the pattern.  Many mainstream novels contain mystery

elements, and it's largely those that pull us in and keep us reading.

MW: What was the first mystery you ever read? What mysteries did you read

before becoming a mystery writer?

CK:  I'm not sure I've completely become a mystery writer.  My first published

novel, "Paper Lovers," contains crime but is a hybrid--mystery, suspense and a

little romance.  Prior to writing that book, I'd read mysteries by Lawrence

Block, Janet Evanovich, Mary Higgins Clark, John Gardner, C.S. Lewis, Walter

Mosley, and many others--while also reading mainstream novels and non-fiction.

Early on, the first "pure" mysteries I read were Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes,

and Agatha Christie, along with stories by Hawthorne. Once I focused more on

mysteries, I read lots more mystery writers: Michael Connolly, Nelson DeMille,

Charlaine Harris, Robert Goolrick, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and others.

MW:. What mystery authors have inspired your own work?

CK  There's no one who could capture my attention emotionally better than Pat

Conroy ("South of Broad"); Mary Higgins Clark's work made me feel that I could

do it too.  Isaac Asimov's "Murder at the NBA" demonstrated that a writer can

range widely and be effective; Linda Fairstein's books revealed the value of

research; Emily Bronte showed how to establish a mood; Ray Bradbury inspired

ideas; C.S. Lewis legitimized imagination. The list is long of others who can

do these things--and many are local writers, some of whose work is of a

quality that rivals books on the New York Times bestseller list. (I easily

listed twenty local mystery writers whose work I've read. Three whose novels

have recently impressed me are Linda Frank, Jeb Ladouceur, and Bernadine

Fagan.)

(note from MW: Linda Frank and Bernadine Fagan are both Sister in Crime authors and will be coming the Library on April 20)

MW: Please tell the reader about your mysteries.

CW:  My published novel, "Paper Lovers," features Dana, a writer of romance

novels who lives in New York City.  While attending a banquet to honor a

world-famous writer, she is abducted and taken to a small hotel where several

other romance writers are sequestered--none against their will, as it turns

out, though a great effort is made to make it seem so. After much trauma, Dana

manages through clever means to effect a rescue for herself and the others--

setting off a different cluster of problems. There is a trial, which does not

go at all as expected. The setting is mainly Manhattan but also locations on

Long Island. Quirky minor characters play vital parts, and there is a novel

within the novel.

MW:  How has living on Long Island impacted your work?

CK:   The metropolitan area that Long Island is a part of brings nationally-

prominent writers into close focus, which enlivens reader interest and writing

ambitions. Writers groups of many kinds abound. Opportunities for writers to

read publicly or workshop their work in progress are easy to find. In general,

Long Islanders are great readers and book buyers, which encourages writers.

  In addition, Long Island offers myriad lifestyles. Whatever the interest--

from quilting, to fishing, to gardening, to sports--it can be found (or newly-

formed) here. Proximity to the biggest of American cities and to beaches,

vineyards, and the suburbs makes for endless possibilities of setting for a

writer's imagination to explore.

MW: What are your future writing plans?

CK:   I have several books in the wings that await final steps before I can

market them. I'm also working on a new novel, this one set mainly on Long

Island

For more information about Charlene Knadle and her works please visit:

http://twocardinalspress.com/index.php/PaperLovers/Author

http://makingbabygrand.com/2012/10/09/meet-author-c-b-knadle/