Letters About Literature

Invitations to the Friday, May 18th, State House Reception (10:30 a.m. to 12 noon) have been extended to those students who have received Honors and Top Honors in this year's program. Congratulations to all students and we'll hope to hear from you again next year. Follow us on Facebook for further updates.

Massachusetts Book Awards 2012

We unveiled this year's "Must Read" Books and summer reading-promotion poster at the Massachusetts Library Association meeting in Worcester on May 9th. You can download the newsletter announcing the books here. Follow the news on our Facebook page and look for the full posting to this site by the end of May.

11th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards Celebration

The annual meeting of the Massachusetts Center for the Book and Mass Book Awards Celebration was held on October 20th at the State House. What a great day for books and reading on the Hill! Read More ...

Letters About Literature 2011

We had a great day at the State House on May 3rd as students, teachers, librarians, parents, relatives, and supporters joined legislators in celebrating the Honors and Top Honors award winners in LAL 2011. Rep. Kate Hogan gave the leglislative welcome, M.T. Anderson was the featured speaker, the Library of Congress was represented, and we were able to announce a National Award for one of our Top Honors writers! Read the letters HERE.

Access the event photos by clicking -- HERE--.

10th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards

The award-winning and "Must Read" Books of 2010 were featured at the Mass Center for the Book table at Boston Book Festival on October 16.

Read more about it and get details on all the "Must Read" books HERE.

National Book Festival 2010

It was a terrific summer day in DC on Saturday, September 25, 2010, when well over 100,000 people gathered for the 10th annual National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress and co-hosted by President and Mrs Obama.

Massachusetts authors were well represented, with M.T. Anderson, Jules Feiffer, Julia Glass, Allegra Goodman, Norton Juster, Anita Silvey, and E. O. Wilson participating. Read more about it and look for photos and web links soon!

See Photos of the 2009 Festival.

New Works

Massachusetts poets with new books in 2009 read at the 2nd Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Lowell, Massachusetts. Go to the Webcast.

The Literary Map of Massachusetts

We are mapping the sites and sounds of books and reading in our commonwealth. Go to the Online Map.

Quote of Note:

'When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser. -- Keith Richards

(Yes, THAT Keith Richards. Thanks to Nancy Anthony, Salem State College, for the alert.) Read more.

What We Are Reading, City by City, in the United States

Check out this slide show at The Daily Beast. -- Go to Slide Show --