Join the Center for the Book on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. CDT for a one-hour webinar exploring 25 years of best practices of the Letters About Literature program. Certificates for CEUs will be available upon completion of the live program. Register here
The webinar will be recorded and available through the http://read.gov/letters site a few days after the live event.
Students from across the state will attend the Alabama Letters About Literature Awards ceremony. Certificates will be awarded to the 52 semi-finalists; prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners in each of the three levels of competition.
Guest speaker will be Adam Davis from Dothan. Davis is a former police officer with multiple years of experience. In 2015, shortly after releasing his first book, Spirit & Truth: 52 Encouraging Messages for American’s Law Enforcement, Davis shifted his focus from serving in active law enforcement to service in ministry, writing and business.
Mark your calendars for the 18th Library of Congress National Book Festival, Saturday, Sept. 1, at the Washington Convention Center. Follow the excitement via our hashtag, #NatBookFest.
Visit the Alabama Center for the Book, booth 509, at the Parade of States. Children’s author, Charles Ghigna, will be on hand to greet visitors and to share information about his book Alabama, My Home Sweet Home! , celebrating Alabama’s bicentennial.
Letters About Literature entries for Alabama will be accepted until Jan. 11, 2019.
Every spring Alabama’s literary community gathers in Monroeville, Alabama to celebrate the state’s rich literary heritage at the Alabama Writers Symposium. Some of Alabama’s most celebrated writers and scholars lead discussion sessions, readings and workshops on themes ranging from Literary Gumbo to Murder, Mystery and Mayhem and everything in between. Since the inaugural event in 1998, writers and scholars participating in the event have included Fannie Flagg, Rick Bragg, Kathryn Tucker Windham, Mark Childress, Cynthia Tucker, Carolyn Haines, Winston Groom, Sena Jeter Naslund, Brad Watson, Wayne Flynt, Trudier Harris, Mike Stewart, Daniel Wallace, JeanieThompson, Kirk Curnutt, Don Noble, Mary Ward Brown, Warren St. John, Sue Brannan Walker, Wayne Greenhaw, George Plimpton, Sonia Sanchez, Tom Franklin, Sonny Brewer, Gin Phillips, Michelle Richmond, John Hafner, Watt Key and Ace Atkins and dozens more.
Annual event highlights include the presentation of the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer and the Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Literary Scholar, both made possible through a generous grant from George F. Landegger. Delicious food, art exhibits, music, booksellers and author signings round out the event’s entertainment.
All events take place in Monroeville on the campus of Coastal Alabama Community College, at the Monroeville Community House and the Monroe County Museum downtown. In 1997, the Alabama legislature designated Monroeville and Monroe County as the Literary Capital of Alabama in recognition of the region’s remarkable literary heritage, making Monroeville the perfect setting for the annual celebration of Alabama writers. Among the writers who at one time or another have called Monroeville and Monroe County home are Truman Capote, Harper Lee, Mark Childress, Rheta Grimsley Johnson and Cynthia Tucker.
Alabama semi-finalists, families, and teachers are invited to attend the Letters About Literature Award Ceremony on Saturday, May 11 at 11 a.m. in Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, room 205, on the campus of The University of Alabama. Guest speaker will be the author of Alabama’s bicentennial book for young readers, Charles Ghigna. 
Mark your calendars for the 19th Library of Congress National Book Festival, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, at the Washington Convention Center. Follow the excitement via our hashtag, #NatBookFest.