NH Letters About Literature 2019

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which has provided support and all the funding for Letters About Literature to the NH Center since 2004 notified all the state Centers for the Book in mid-June that they are ending the program:

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.   

 After receiving this notice the NH Center for the Book Advisory Board discussed the issue and determined that without the financial support of the Library of Congress we are unable to offer this program to New Hampshire students for the 2019-2020 school year.

Letters About Literature is a program that supports reading and the thoughtful consideration of how literature relates to our lives and we would like to see it continue in our state. There are several state Centers planning to fund and manage the program within their own states in the coming school year. The NH Center will be looking at whether we can find the resources to resume the program, following the model being created now by other state centers, for the fall of 2020. If this proves possible we will make announcements about our plans by early May 2020.