When I started a book club to read the works of Italian-American authors, I was flabbergasted. I know that Italian-American authors are an overlooked group by traditional publishing. However, there are a number of books written by them, more than enough to create a list for a monthly book club. In addition, there is a plethora of self-published books by Italian-American authors from which to choose.

So why was I flabbergasted? When I went to my local library, I found few books in the catalog written by Italian-American writers and even less with Italian-American themes. That’s when I discovered that if you have a library card from a local library in your community, you can request that the library purchase a particular book. If we want to be represented in libraries, we need to make our voices heard. Visit the website of your local library. Search for a page that is either called “request a purchase” or “recommend a title,” or something similar.