ALA: Actress and Comedian Molly Shannon Named 2022 National Library Week Honorary Chair

From ALA:

Molly Shannon, multiple Emmy-nominated and Spirit Award-winning actress, comedian, and legendary Saturday Night Live cast member, will help celebrate our nation’s libraries as the honorary chair of National Library Week, April 3–9, 2022. Shannon will highlight the numerous ways libraries serve to connect communities to books, resources, programs, and, of course, each other.

“I am so honored to serve as honorary chair of National Library Week for 2022. My mom was a librarian. She encouraged kids to read. So, the work of librarians and libraries has such a special place in my heart,” Shannon said. “Libraries are places where communities connect—to things like broadband, computers, programs and classes, books, movies, video games, and more. But most importantly, libraries connect us to each other. Supporting National Library Week in this role allows me to connect to my mother’s memory and all the librarians out there. Thank you for everything you do.”

The theme for National Library Week 2022, “Connect with Your Library,” promotes the idea that libraries are places to get connected to technology by using broadband, computers, and other resources. Libraries also offer opportunities to connect with media, programs, ideas, and classes—in addition to books. Most importantly libraries also connect communities to each other. Overall, the theme is an explicit call to action—an invitation for communities to join, visit, or advocate for their local libraries.

“We are just delighted to have Molly Shannon serve as the honorary chair of National Library Week 2022,” said American Library Association President (ALA) Patty Wong. “Molly has made us laugh for so many years, and she exemplifies the creative spirit and spark that libraries and librarians nurture when they connect readers to new books and ideas. Molly is a national treasure, as are our libraries. We’re so glad to have her on board.”

Molly Shannon will release her memoir in April 2022. Hello, Molly! A Memoir is a candid, compulsively readable, hilarious, and heartbreaking memoir of resilience and redemption filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Whitney Houston to Adam Sandler to Monica Lewinsky, with many told for the first time.  The book spans Shannon’s time on Saturday Night Live, where she starred alongside Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Cheri Oteri, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, and many others. At the same time, it explores with humor and candor her struggle to come to terms with the legacy of her father, a man who fostered her gifts and drive, but who was also left with the impossible task of raising his kids alone after the loss of their mother.

In addition to the six seasons she spent as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, where she created beloved characters like Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley, Shannon has appeared in many TV series, including Will & Grace, Enlightened, and Divorce, and starred in movies like Superstar, Other People, and Never Been Kissed. Shannon currently appears in The Other Two and The White Lotus, both on HBO Max.

Free digital graphics promoting National Library Week will be available soon at ala.org/nlw. The National Library Week poster and other promotional materials featuring the “Connect with Your Library” theme are available for purchase through the ALA Store; T-shirts, totes and other print-on-demand items are for sale at bit.ly/GraphicsGiftShop.

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is an annual observance by ALA and libraries across the country each April. National Library Week celebrations include the release of ALA’s State of America’s Libraries Report, April 4; National Library Workers Day, April 5; National Day for Bookmobiles and Outreach Services, April 6; Take Action for Libraries Day, April 7; and the celebration of School Library Month throughout April.

For more information about National Library Week, please visit  ala.org/nlw.

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