Sachem Library Adult Book Club Celebrates Wrap-Up With Local Authors

Over two hundred people gathered at the Sachem Public Library last Wednesday to celebrate the end of this summer’s Adult Book Club. Those who completed the required five book summaries for the summer were invited to attend the “Between the Covers” themed event. The attendees snacked on night-themed food and drinks, received a free copy of “The Long Island Noir” and even got to meet the authors with a book-signing.

“I thought it was a good idea," said Donna Callahan, a long-time resident of Holtsville. "I read all the time. It’s a memory of when I was a kid. I was in a book club and we had an ice cream party at the end.” 

Beginning last summer, the program director, Lauren Gilbert, has chosen books that have authors available to come to the closing party. This year’s event brought Steven Wishnia, Kenneth Wishnia, Reed Farrel Coleman and Matthew McGevna to the Sachem Library to sign and discuss “Long Island Noir.” Coincidentally, McGevna is the editor of Sachem Patch.

During their on-stage talk, the authors discussed the real-life stories behind the short stories they added to the anthology; some authors moved the settings of the event for the book.

The authors also discussed how the book came to be. They all had one main person to thank- editor Kaylie Jones who was able to pull the authors together and compile the collection.

“This is actually my idea,” according to author Reed Farrel Coleman, “I approached the publisher several years ago and pitched suburban noir. He likes specific locations, so I pitched Long Island Noir. I got busy and dropped the project. They found Kaylie Jones.”

Though Coleman wasn’t able to follow through on the book on his own, he speaks very highly of Jones.

“Kaylie did a great job. She took a totally different approach then I would have. It’s refreshing to have non-mystery writers write mystery stories,” Coleman added.

“It’s in your head, but isn’t on paper yet,” Kenneth Wishnia said, referring to how Kaylie edited his story.

Kenneth’s brother, Steven Wishnia added further, “A good editor is right 80-85% of the time. That was Kaylie.”

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With this summer coming to a close Sachem residents look forward to next summer and the benefits that being in the book club bring.

“I joined the book club to encourage my sons to join,” said Janis Fleck, a long-time Ronkonkoma resident who has two sons who are involved in other book clubs at the Sachem Library.

This article was written by new Sachem Patch freelancer, Nicole Brems.