Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows library staff across Canada to collaboratively select their favourite forthcoming titles. Using CataList, the online catalogue service and order management tool available for free to libraries, library staff can endorse the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Juvenile, and Young Adult titles they want to recommend to their patrons. The titles with the most recommendations become Loan Stars picks!
But who are the authors and illustrators behind these great Loan Stars reads?
We find out in our series Meet the Loan Stars.
Meet Flora Harding
Flora Harding, photo by Kippa Matthews
Flora Harding began writing over 30 years ago to fund a PhD on the disposal of waste in Elizabethan York, and has juggled fact and fiction ever since. Under various pseudonyms, she has written more than 75 novels, histories, and other forms of non-fiction and continues to be fascinated by the relationship between the past and the present, whatever she happens to be writing.
Flora’s latest novel, The People’s Princess, was chosen to be on the March 2022 Loan Stars Adult list!
Read about Flora’s love for libraries, book recommendations, and more in her interview below.
If you could visit any library in the world, where would you go?
To my local library here in York (UK) which has a wonderful archive and where I have spent so many happy hours researching.
Do you have a favourite librarian, real or fictional?
I can't pick one: ALL the librarians at York Explore who are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about the books and resources there.
Which book would you choose to recommend to library patrons?
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman, the book that changed my life.
What does being a Loan Stars pick mean to you?
What an honour to be recommended by librarians, people who really know books and readers! I am honestly thrilled.
And we’re honoured to have you on our list, Flora!
Are you a Loan Stars-recommended author or illustrator who wants to be featured on our blog? Get in touch with us to get started.
Until next time!
Use CataList reports to keep track of new drop-in titles and changes to key elements that publishers make to their forthcoming titles.