Nancy Pearl’s life has been shaped by books and reading. Inspired by her childhood librarians, Pearl went on to become a librarian herself, receiving her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Michigan in 1967 and working in the public library systems in Detroit, Tulsa, and Seattle. Pearl retired as the Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library and went on to write the Book Lust series, four titles filled with recommendations of good books to read.

Pearl is the creator of the internationally recognized community reads program “If All Seattle Read the Same Book” (now known as “Seattle Reads”) and was the inspiration for the Archie McPhee Librarian Action Figure. Her many awards and honors include being named the 50th recipient of the Woman’s National Book Association Award; the Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association.

Pearl speaks about the pleasures of reading to literacy organizations, libraries, and community groups throughout the world and comments on books regularly on KWGS, the flagship National Public Radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On Book Lust with Nancy Pearl, her television show on the Seattle Channel, she has interviewed authors such as Terry Pratchett, Paul Yoon, and Kevin Young.

Her first novel, George & Lizzie, was published in 2017. The Writer’s Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives, a collection of author interviews, co-authored with Jeff Schwager, was published in 2020.