July 25, 2012 Connecticut Center for the Book Moves to Connecticut Humanities Council

The Connecticut Center for the Book, which has been part of the Hartford Public Library for the past decade, is moving from Hartford to the offices of the Connecticut Humanities Council, based in Middletown.

The Connecticut Center for the Book will become a program of the 35-year-old humanities organization, which has long sponsored reading events throughout the state.

“We wish the Connecticut Humanities Council much success as it continues the long history of the Connecticut Center for the Book’s programs that enrich the state’s literary history for all its citizens,” said John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. “The addition of the Connecticut Humanities Council brings to 11 the number of state humanities councils that host our affiliate centers and strengthen our overall state-center network.”

In 2002, in addition to readings and literary gatherings designed to showcase the achievements of state writers and designers of books, the Connecticut Center for the Book began presenting the Connecticut Book Awards to writers of poetry, history, fiction and biography as well as to book designers. During the Connecticut center’s tenure at the Hartford Public Library, programming also included World of Words, which used many different activities to promote public libraries to the state’s ethnic communities; and Letters About Literature (www.read.gov/contests/), an essay contest for students in grades 4 through 12.

“The Connecticut Center for the Book is a perfect fit for us.” said Stuart Parnes, executive director of the Connecticut Humanities Council. “We were established as our state’s affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1973, and four years later Congress created the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Our missions have always been aligned – to help individuals and communities deal with the issues that confront us today by engaging in discussions of works of literature. Across the country, nearly a dozen Centers for the Book are housed in humanities councils. They each reflect the unique character of their home state. We look forward to building on the successes of the Hartford Public Library and partnering with a wide variety of organizations to promote the joy and the importance of reading all across Connecticut.”

Since its creation by Congress in 1977 to “stimulate public interest in books and reading,” the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress (www.Read.gov/cfb/) has become a national force for reading and literacy promotion. A public-private partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages, nationally and internationally. The center provides leadership for affiliated state centers for the book (including the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and nonprofit reading- promotion partners and plays a key role in the Library’s annual National Book Festival. It also oversees the Library’s Read.gov website and administers the Library’s Young Readers Center.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s website, www.loc.gov.