Author Jane L. Rosen grew up in Baldwin. Now a successful author, she has returned to her hometown library via Zoom to discuss her latest novel, “Songs of Summer,” on Dec. 8.
Rosen has been writing her whole life. In high school, she wrote for the Baldwin Citizen newspaper, and then transitioned to writing screenplays. About 12 years ago, she wrote her first novel. Now, she is writing her seventh.
In her discussion with the Baldwin Public Library, Rosen will be talking about the final installment in her Fire Island trilogy. “Fire Island really is my happy place. It’s an amazing community, very intergenerational, lots of characters everywhere you look,” Rosen said to the Herald when asked the inspiration behind the trilogy. “It’s a nice, beautiful, warm summer landscape, with lots of small town gossip, all of those things wrapped up makes it the perfect setting for a novel, especially a summer novel.”
“Songs of Summer” tells the story of Maggie May Wheeler, a woman who leaves a small town in Ohio and heads to Fire Island in search of her birth mother, but she finds a lot more than she was looking for. Rosen decided to name the book Songs of Summer because of all of the musical references she worked into the story. “Maggie May owns a record store, and a guy she meets on Fire Island works for Rolling Stone... Each chapter begins with the name of a song,” she said. “There’s a great playlist that goes along with it. A lot of people listened along as they read, it’s really fun.”
When talking to readers, she describes herself as an “open book.” “I love talking to readers and I love answering questions. I find it really enjoyable. I love meeting my readers,” she said. Rosen hopes the discussion of her summer novel brought warmth to attendees this winter.
“It’s a real thrill for me,” Rosen said on how it feels to do her first author event at her childhood library. From field trips to being asked out on a date for the first time, she will never forget the “fantastic” memories she has made at the BPL. “You could take the girl out of Long Island, but you can’t take Long Island out of the girl.”
