By Khalida Sarwari
Bookworms take note: the works of nearly 200 authors, illustrators and photographers from Saratoga will be on display at the Saratoga Library next month.
The books are being showcased as part of the Authors Hall of Fame exhibit, an annual presentation by the Friends of the Saratoga Libraries. Most of the books from the collection will be available for people to check out.
The display will be up near the main lobby beginning Sept. 4 and through the end of the month, according to Dona Tobiason, the Friends’ community affairs chairwoman. The purpose of the exhibit, she said, is to celebrate local authors and expose the community to their work.
Some of the authors whose books were displayed in the past include Ellen Hawkes, Les Landin, Audry Lynch, Barbara Marinacci, Eleanor Kamb Ray, Willys Peck, Bonnie Stone and Gerald Uelman.
The Friends of the Saratoga Libraries created the Saratoga Authors Hall of Fame in 1989 as a way to contribute to the Chamber of Commerce’s weeklong community-wide Celebrate Saratoga celebration. The exhibit is now held in September to coincide with Saratoga Heritage Day.
The library has played host to the Authors Hall of Fame display nearly every year, except from 1999 to 2002, when space restrictions in the communitylLibrary prompted organizers to move the display to the Friends’ used bookstore, the Book-Go-Round, in Saratoga’s first library building on Oak Street and Saratoga-Los Gatos Road.
The display was returned to the library in 2003, when it reopened after an expansion.
Over the years, the list of authors has grown from 50 to 218, and the collection includes books that belonged to the library as well as some that were donated, according to Tobiason.
“It’s really grown a considerable amount in not too long of a period of time,” she said.
The Friends are continuing to compile an authors list. Recently published authors who are current or former residents of Saratoga or who those know of one can contact Tobiason at 408.867.4783.
