As an author, editor, and children’s book illustrator, I have relied on libraries my entire life. I have read a plethora of library books since early childhood, I volunteered at my local library in high school, and now as an adult, I’m working to get my own books into libraries. Libraries are both an essential service to the American people and are critical to my professional industry. I have relied on my library as a polling location and I use Libby all the time to listen to audiobooks, both for fun and for my MFA classes, in which I’m studying Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing. My only wish for my library is that it had more funding so it could be open on Sundays again. Normally, I can only visit on Saturdays as I work 9-6, Monday-Friday. My library is well-loved and well-needed. It cannot be defunded.
Clarissa McLaughlin resides in Santee.
