Sometimes you can find the best talent in your own backyard.
The La Grange Public Library did just that Jan. 25 when local author Lisa Katzenberger was sworn in to replace the retiring Thomas Jandris on the La Grange Public Library Board of Trustees.
“I feel very excited to support the Library,” Katzenberger said in a telephone interview. “I’ve been using the Library since my family moved to La Grange 10 years ago. I’ve been taking my children there since they were toddlers.”
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Katzenberger grew up in South Suburban Midlothian. After graduating from Bremen High School, she attended Northern Illinois University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism.
She worked as a technical writer while living with her family on the North Side of Chicago. When her children were very young, she and her husband decided it was time for a change.
“I thought, ‘I’m ready for a backyard, a basement, and a good school district,'” Katzenberger said in explaining how her family moved to La Grange.
After taking creative writing classes, she became a part-time creative writing teacher at The Writing Barn, a Texas-based online school where she originally was a student, and was finally able to concentrate on her writing on an almost full-time basis.
Katzenberger’s passion is children’s literature and her book, “A National Regular Average Ordinary Day,” was published in 2020 and quickly gained national attention.
It tells the story of Peter, who is so enamored with national holidays that he becomes frustrated on normal days with nothing to celebrate. But he comes to realize that every day is special and, in its own way, worth celebrating.
She followed her initial success up with “Triceratops Would Not Make a Good Ninja,” and “It Will Be OK: A Story of Empathy, Kindness, and Friendship.”
Katzenberger said she planned to make good use of her professional experience in her duties as a trustee.
“I’m really interested in supporting children’s literature,” she said. “I want to particularly focus on diversity so children could get to see people that don’t look like them.”
Katzenberger stressed that the age of COVID-19 has brought special challenges to the Library.
“I want to help make the Library accessible to people during COVID,” she said. “People should know that if they’re physically unable to come to the Library for some reason, the Library has increased access to E-books and magazines.”
Library officials are looking forward to the contributions Katzenberger will make to the Library’s operations.
“With Lisa’s insight as an author, she brings experience and expertise that isn’t represented on our current Board,” Board President Joyce Hagen-McIntosh said in a news release.
Marketing and Public Relations Director Arcadia McCauley said that Katzenberger will be an asset to the entire community.
“She was definitely on the list because of her status as a local writer,” McCauley said, “and she’s an avid Library patron and obviously involved in the community.”
McCauley praised Katzenberger for doing a reading for her latest book last summer, saying “she’s definitely interested in giving back to the community.”
Katzenberger wanted La Grange residents to know that the Library is open full-time during the pandemic and urged them come in, with the only real restriction being that patrons are required to wear masks.
“Come by and visit,” she said.
Katzenberger’s term runs through April 30, 2023.