[OYAN] LoC Ends Letters About Literature Program

[Jennifer Maurer]

Please pardon the cross-posting.

Hi,

As many of you know, Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing contest sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress (LoC). Students in 4th - 12th grades write a letter to any author, living or not, explaining how that author's book changed their way of thinking about the world or themselves. Once the State Library stopped coordinating Oregon entries about four years ago, Oregon students could still participate at the national level, but we no longer selected multiple state winners and runners up, and we no longer coordinated a local celebration. Well, now the Library of Congress is dropping the program.

This is an excerpt of an announcement shared on June 17th by Guy Lamolinara from the Library of Congress:

...The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress is proud of the 27 years it has sponsored the Letters About Literature program with affiliated Centers for the Book.  This national reading and writing competition, which has touched more than one million students, has been a source of much joy and inspiration at the nation's library.  We are grateful for your unflagging support of this initiative.

I write to let you know that, after much analysis and reflection, the Library has decided that Letters About Literature will conclude with the 2018-2019 program.  The Library has developed a new Strategic Plan, and must focus its resources in direct support of that Plan.  We will look forward to sharing with you new programming opportunities that, like Letters About Literature, will spur a passion for reading in today's youth and help them to examine and expand their worldview...

I'm letting you know since I used to promote program participation on this listserv. If I hear about any new opportunities from the Library of Congress, I will let you know.

FYI, the LoC can be slow about updating their websites. As of today, there is no news about the end of the program on their contests<http://www.read.gov/contests/> or Letters About Literature<http://www.read.gov/letters/> pages.

Thanks,
Jen

Jen Maurer, MLS
School Library Consultant
jennifer.maurer at state.or.us<mailto:jennifer.maurer at state.or.us> | 503-378-5011 | www.oregon.gov/library/libraries<http://www.oregon.gov/library/libraries>
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