Author Event with Kate Quinn - Wichita Public Library 150 Anniversary

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Wichita Public Library, they are partnering with Watermark Books & Cafe to bring Kate Quinn to Wichita for her new book, The Astral Library!

Event Information

Kate will pre-sign all books purchased for the event, though she will not be personalizing or signing any book brought by attendees. While there won’t be a formal signing line, guests are welcome to join the photo line for pictures with her after event.

The Wichita Public Library Foundation is hosting a VIP Meet and Greet with Kate before the Author Event. Tickets are $100 and include admission to the VIP Meet and Greet and the Author Event, a signed hardcover copy of the book. For tickets to the VIP Meet and Greet, please visit our website.

About the Book

Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?

About the Author

Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. The Astral Library is her first foray into magic realism. She and her husband now live in Maryland with their rescue dogs.

About Jaime

As Director of Libraries, Jaime Nix is responsible for all initiatives, operations, and staff of the Wichita Public Library who work daily to spark joy for reading and learning. Jaime held several paraprofessional positions with the library prior to starting her professional career with the City of Wichita as the Evergreen Branch Manager in 2002 and was then promoted to Customer Service Manager in 2007. She left Wichita to gain broader leadership skills at Pierce County Library System where she was a Customer Experience Manager for Adult Services, then became the Customer Experience Director before she rejoined WPL as Director of Libraries in October 2021.