Hannah Lesniak

Hannah as Belle

Once upon a time, in a small town Michigan, there was a young girl named Hannah. She was the best at hide-and-seek, the worst at tag, and she could spell her name forwards and backwards with palindromic precision. Hannah wanted nothing more than to play and be free under the sun (or just in the house because winter in Michigan has love for no man). Then, one third grade day, after the horrors of learning long division, the teacher Mrs. Hruby began to read to her class. A fantastical world of danger, excitement, wonder, and magic illuminated Hannah's mind and heart when she met Harry Potter. There was no going back after that.

Hannah spent her school days reading. Since third grade, she has never been without a book. She enjoys all kinds of fantasy, especially retold fairy tales, and young adult literature. She raided her library for stacks and stacks of books and joined the Teen Advisory Group, a group of teenagers at the library, to talk about books. It was at this fine establishment that she met the magnanimous Elizabeth and a short time later she joined the library’s ranks. Throughout high school and college, she has worked at her local library as a page. She likes to think that she was really a Knight of Knowledge in training, but she was simply the person to put books back on the shelf. Such a position was most beneficial in obtaining books and stories to peruse.

Hannah once wrote stories of her own. They were also fantasy based, filled with kings, pirates, creepy snake beings, unicorns and centaurs. The original manuscript shall never come to light, but perhaps one day her stories shall be reinvented and written down.

During the page years she got good grades in high school (think non-rebellious-goody-two-shoes-Disney-loving-teenager) and discerned what field to go into for college. With good grades, one could go anywhere, but the only place worth going for Hannah was the library, or a bookstore for that matter. The best school for a Master's Degree in Library Science just happens to be right in the neighborhood--Wayne State University in Michigan. Getting there is another matter, however.

One cannot obtain a Master's Degree without first securing a Bachelor's Degree. Therefore, Hannah has decided to spend four years meandering through an English Degree at Madonna University...because they gave her money. Currently finishing up her third year, she eagerly and anxiously awaits applying for graduate school.

Hannah with the Wardrobe 

(taken in McClay Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland)

In the semester of Fall 2012, Hannah left the country for the first time (that's right, she's never been to Canada) to journey to the beautiful country of Northern Ireland. She and her good friend Rebekah studied abroad at Queen's University Belfast and fell in love with the British and Irish people and culture. Hannah studied Romantic and Medieval Literature and wrote poetry. She learned that craic is not a drug, discovered ferries are not for the faint of stomach, and found that Sensibility was thankfully shot down in the 1700s to make way for those crazy Romantics. She also became addicted to tea and scones.

Upon returning to regular life in ordinary Michigan, she gained a promotion at the library. Hannah is no longer a page, but a clerk (a Squire of Knowledge in Hannah's mind). She continues her days at the library and is also a secretary for a small business. She has thrown herself into her studies at Madonna and reads in her spare time. Hannah enjoys movies, Psych, chocolate, and blue-skied days. She also finds amusement and frustration in sewing.

She is honored and thrilled to be a part of The Bearded Scribe which will give her more reason to get lost in as many fantasy worlds as possible.

What shall be Hannah's happily ever after? Who knows. After all, it's not the ending that counts, but the telling of the story that gets you there.

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