Patron Spotlight: Ritika and Amala Golej

Writing two books before college, swimming with sharks and being the first to complete Omaha Public Library’s (OPL) annual reading challenge, is there anything mom-and-daughter duo Ritika and Amala Golej can’t do?

Ritika and Amala are regulars at OPL’s Saddlebrook Branch. Ritika currently works with Live On Nebraska, a nonprofit procurement organization dedicated to saving and healing lives through organ, tissue and eye donation. She’s also a busy mom of two, plays tennis regularly and loves to read, especially historical fiction and books that fulfill OPL’s annual Reading Challenge. When asked what her favorite part of the Reading Challenge was, she admitted she loved collecting the little pins participants get as a prize upon completion. After that, she loves the fact that it helps her broaden her horizons. 

“It has pushed me to read certain books that I may not choose otherwise just because I have to fill a category,” Ritika says. “There have been a couple of books that I am glad I read, and I never would’ve picked it if it didn’t fill the category.” 

Ritika wanted to instill the love for reading in Amala at a very young age. In fact, she read “Pride and Prejudice” to her daughter while she was pregnant. That lifelong love of literacy clearly rubbed off on Amala, an upcoming high school junior who has already written two books. Amala and Ritika would visit the library regularly picking up books, before striking up a friendship with Holly, Saddlebrook’s Assistant Branch Manager. 

Needing a quiet place to focus, Amala uses the library as her writing studio. When she hit a wall trying to navigate the publishing world, Holly stepped in to help draft her book blurb and query letters. Today, Amala is working with a professional author mentor through WriteGirl to finish major edits on her second novel before querying agents. 

Amala’s creativity is matched only by her drive to help others and her planet. An avid shark lover who swam with sharks in Mexico last year, she plans to study marine biology on the coast and is thinking about writing a third book tied to marine conservation. Closer to home, she and her best friend co-founded the Free Flow Foundation, a non-profit that has already collected and distributed roughly 16,000 menstrual products to locals in need. Check them out on Instagram (@free.flow.foundation) to get information about their next collection date!

Whether they are swapping book recommendations (Ritika loves “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett and “Memoirs of  a Geisha” by Arthur Golden; Amala recommends anything by John Green and Lisa Genova) or catching up with staff, Ritika and Amala embody the true spirit of OPL’s community. Ritika says, “I think we need to keep supporting the library so that it doesn’t go away. It’s an amazing, free resource.”