What is it?

Letters About Literature is a national reading-writing competition sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with the Indiana Center for the Book, and sponsored by the James & Madeleine McMullan Family Foundation. The contest calls on students grades 4-12 to write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre (fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, etc.) explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or their self.

How it started

The Indiana State Library hosts this program for the state of Indiana. The coordinator requested a program and book cover done similarly to the theme of the national Letters about Literature. The theme of the national competition is a chalkboard. The book for the Letters About Literature Anthology will be coming soon. I have had the opportunity to format and edit the content of the winners in the book. 

As part of the Letters About Literature program, all contestants who are Finalists, Semifinalists, and Honorable Mentions get to have their letters published together as a single book each year.