By Tess Goldwasser
Meet Peter Coyl!
The immediate past chair of the Stonewall Book Awards Committee, Peter says it has been an absolute highlight of his career and life to be involved in recognizing these fantastic books and honoring their very talented authors. He is the Branch Manager for Dallas Public Library, the busiest branch in the city, that circulates over 250,000 items a year.
One of Peter’s goal is to find ways for libraries to have more sustainable funding. He says, “Being a line item on a city budget is not the most stable or constant source of revenue. Hand in hand with that is helping non-library supporters understand the value and worth of libraries so that there can be a more constant source of revenue.†Previously, he lived in Taiwan, studied Chinese for a year, and later returned to be the librarian at a K-12 international school.
If he were an animal, he would be a turtle, because “it would be cool to be able to hide in a shell.†And if he could have a dinner party with five culturally or historically significant figures, living or dead, he would invite Claude Monet, Pearl S. Buck, Walt Whitman, Jimmy Stewart, and Marco Polo. Can I come too?
[Photo is Peter with Hannah Moskowitz, author of “Gone Gone Gone†a 2013 Stonewall honor book]
