Minnesota Author Julie Kramer

Julie Kramer, 2009 winner of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library Minnesota Book Award spent Thursday, Oct. 7 talking to students at area schools, and later that night to the public at the Kasson Library.

Kramer, a graduate of Southland High School in Adams, grew up on a family farm along the Minnesota-Iowa State Line. "The bookmobile was very important to me when I was growing up. I'm always happy to talk about how libraries create authors. Libraries are so important to communities. "

As part of the Minnesota Legacy Grant program area libraries had an opportunity to book winners of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library Minnesota Book Award. Kasson Public Library, KM Schools, and Triton Schools partnered together to have Mystery Writer Julie Kramer come and talk about her books and how to get them published. Her latest book, SILENCING SAM, explores the fine line between news and gossip when a reporter because a murder suspect in a gossip columnist's death. Library Journal called it "riveting" and gave it a starred review. The book also has an unusual subplot involving wind farms, that has proven especially popular with rural Minnesota readers.



The adults attending Thursday's talk thoroughly enjoyed hearing Julie talk about the book writing process and her life as a news journalist. Many people had questions ranging from how do you learn to write, how many hours do your devote to writing, where do the ideas come from.




Mary Kramer, Julie Kramer, Bonnie Adams, Ingvild Herfindahl

Additional pictures of this event can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/page3/