Paula Poundstone on her love of libraries and her terrible self-discovery

We are so thrilled that Paula Poundstone will serve as our emcee for this year’s Opus & Olives. In preparation for the big event, we asked Paula a couple questions to help fans get to know her better in this #opusexclusive.

Tell us something that people might not know about you.

I just made a terrible self-discovery. There is nothing everyone doesn’t know about me. After thirty-eight years of telling my little jokes, and writing books, I’ve mined every personal detail there is to my life. I do have a genetic pot belly that I hid pretty well, until yesterday, when I posted on Twitter, and Youtube a film of me swing dancing in shorts and a t-shirt. That well kept secret is out. Take that scoop, NATIONAL ENQUIRER.

Tell us what you love about libraries.

My favorite thing about libraries is the books, but also, the feeling I get from being in a library, among the books. Some of the earliest autonomous time I had was in the Framingham Library in Massachusetts. The Goodnow Library in Sudbury, Massachusetts, my home library, was too small to do very much in the way of research, and I had a written report that I had to work on. Reference materials and periodicals couldn’t be taken out, so my dad would drop me off at the Framingham Library on a number of Saturday mornings to work on my report. Then, as now, I could focus, and work productively in there. It’s as if the books that surround me say, “How do you think we got written?” The very air is filled with productivity, knowledge, and creative inspiration. I like that about libraries.


Meet Paula and the rest of our bestselling lineup in person on October 8 at the RiverCentre in downtown Saint Paul!

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