National Library Week Author Panel

Celebrate National Library Week with an author panel you won't want to miss. Join us in the Luecht Auditorium @ McHenry County College for a lively and fun-filled evening with a dynamic panel discussion featuring fiction authors Christina Clancy, Sonali Dev, Nancy Johnson, Sara Maurer, and Rachel Swearingen. From inspiration and the writing process to what’s next on their creative journeys, this roundtable promises sharp insights, candid moments, and plenty of humor. 

Read Between the Lynes will have books available for purchase and signing.

Author Information:

Christina Clancy is the bestselling author of The Snowbirds, Shoulder Season and The Second Home, which has been optioned for television and film.  Her novels have been featured in People Magazine, Good Morning America, CNN, Travel & Leisure, Buzzfeed, Pop Sugar, and Shelf Awareness. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine, and in various literary journals.  Christina grew up in Milwaukee, and graduated from the University of Minnesota. She earned  a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She lives in Madison with her very tall husband, and a little white dog named Bunny who loves everyone.

Bestselling author Sonali Dev has written eleven heart-warming and hilarious novels featuring families with no boundaries, and love that triumphs over all. Her books have been featured in Library Journal, NPR, Washington Post, and Kirkus’s Best Books of the year lists. She has won the American Library Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewer Choice Award for best contemporary romance, multiple RT Seals of Excellence, is a RITA® finalist, and has been listed for the Dublin Literary award. Shelf Awareness calls her “Not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” Sonali lives in the Chicago suburbs with her very patient and often amused husband and two teens who demand both patience and humor, and the world’s most perfect dog.

A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson built a career as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates in markets nationwide. Her debut novel, The Kindest Lie, was reviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and was highlighted on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List. Her 2025 novel People of Means, is a story of race, class, and resistance in 1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago. PEOPLE Magazine named it one of its most anticipated books for 2025;  it has also been featured as one of the best books of 2025 by Woman’s World, Real Simple, and Southern Living magazines. A graduate of Northwestern University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nancy lives in downtown Chicago where she’s a director of brand journalism and storytelling for a large health care nonprofit.

Sara Maurer's debut novel, A Good Animal, a heart-wrenching coming of age story, will be published in February 2026, by St. Martin’s Press. Place deeply informs Sara’s writing, particularly how it influences identity and choice. Her novel is set in picturesque Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and is perfect for readers of Barbara Kingsolver and Ann Patchett. She attended Albion College and Eastern Michigan University and completed the Stanford Continuing Studies certificate in novel writing in 2022. In 2023, she was selected as a Suzanne M. Wilson Artist-in-Residence at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. She lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with her husband, two kids, and mini Dachshund.

Rachel Swearingen is the author of the story collection How to Walk on Water and Other Stories, which received the New American Press Fiction Prize, and was named the 2021 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year, as well as a New York Times Book Review “New & Noteworthy Selection.” Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Electric Lit, and VICE. She is the recipient of the Berlin Writing Prize, the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize in Fiction, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, and the Mississippi Review Prize in Fiction. In addition, she has been included in New City’s Lit 50 list as well as the Guild Literary Complex’s list of 30 Writers to Watch. A Wisconsin native, Rachel earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and a PhD in English (Creative Writing) from Western Michigan University. She has taught writing and literature at The School of the Art Institute - Chicago, Cornell College, Western Michigan University, and Kalamazoo College. She lives in Chicago.

This program is led by McHenry County Libraries United - Let’s All Read Together a collaboration of McHenry County public libraries.