About the Center for the Book
The Minnesota Center for the Book is the state affiliate of the National Center for the Book at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
The Center for the Book was established by public law in 1977 to promote books, reading, literacy and libraries, as well as the scholarly study of books. Since its founding, the Center has established affiliate centers in 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Center’s mission is carried out internationally through its overseas affiliates. More than 80 organizations are Center for the Book reading promotion partners in the United States and abroad.
Center for the Book programs include the Books & Beyond author series, in which writers from across the country come to the Library to discuss their work and their use of the Library’s extraordinary resources. The Center for the Book and the Library of Congress also sponsor the National Book Festival, now in its 11th year.
The Center also places special emphasis on young readers through reading and writing contests, the Read.gov website and the new Young Readers Center in the Thomas Jefferson Building on Capitol Hill.
Letters About Literature Invites Students to Enter National Essay Contest
The Minnesota Book Awards, a program of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, along with local cosponsors the Pioneer Press and TwinCities.com and the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English, invites Minnesota students in grades 4 through 12 to enter the 2012 Letters About Literature essay contest.
Sponsored nationally by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in partnership with Target, the contest asks readers to write a letter to an author describing how his or her work touched their life in a personal way. Authors can be of any genre or time period and can come from any country.