The Vermont Reading Project, located in Chester, has officially become the Vermont Center for the Book and the 29th state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
"This is a wonderful development," said John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. "Since 1984 the Vermont Reading Project has been a national leader in promoting library-based book discussion groups. This new partnership also gives the Library of Congress its first state center in New England."
In the past the Vermont Reading Project has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Vermont Council on the Humanities.
The Vermont Center for the Book will continue its work of coordinating book discussion programs at 75 libraries each year and organizing book discussion programs for new and "at-risk" readers annually at approximately 150 schools, libraries, correctional facilities and other sites. For the past five years, it has coordinated an annual "About Books and People" conference for 350 adult new readers. Most recently the Vermont center has begun working closely with the Vermont governor's Success by Six program to put books in the hands of the parents of preschoolers and to train parents and child-care workers on how to make reading part of a child's daily routine.
The Vermont Center for the Book is a 501 (c) (3) organization that includes on its board of directors representatives from the Vermont Department of Libraries and the Vermont Library Association, a book seller and a public librarian. The Vermont center "is committed to calling Vermonters together to form a community of readers who use books as tools for investigating complex ideas in their attempt to understand and shape the world in which they live."
For information, write or phone Wendy Martin, Vermont Center for the Book, P.O. Box 441, Chester, VT 05143, (802) 875- 2751.
Eleven State Centers Host Writers in "Writing Life" Program. Writers Peter Taylor, Jean Auel, T.H. Watkins, Mary Oliver and James Dickey will appear at five state centers for the book this spring as part the National Book Foundation's 1993-94 "Writing Life" project, which enables authors who were National Book Award winners or finalists to visit a community for a series of programs.
The project is supported by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. The National Book Foundation is a reading promotion partner of the Center for the Book.
Novelist and poet Peter Taylor will be hosted by the Florida Center for the Book on March 30-31 at programs in Fort Lauderdale and Miami; satellite programs featuring other writers will be held in Key West, Palm Springs, Venice and other communities. For information, call the Florida Center for the Book at (305) 357-7404.
The 1992 National Book Award winner for poetry, Mary Oliver, will be hosted by the Ohio Center for the Book in Columbus on April 5-6. For information, call (614) 644-7061.
The Kansas Center for the Book will present Jean Auel in Topeka on April 14-15. For information, call (913) 233-2040.
T.H. Watkins is the Montana Center for the Book's writer- in-residence on April 29-30 for readings and conversation in Helena; satellite programs are being planned at Flathead County Library; the Montana Historical Society; and Western Montana College. For information, call (406) 444-5353.
Poet and novelist James Dickey, who won the National Book Award for poetry in 1966 and served as Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress in 1966-68, will be sponsored by the Virginia Center for the Book in Richmond on May 12-13; other writers will participate in satellite programs in Danville, Virginia Beach, and Winchester. For information, call the Virginia Center for the Book at (804) 371-6493.
Six National Book Award winners or finalists were hosted by state centers for the book in 1993 or early 1994. Each state center also hosted other writers in several satellite programs in schools, libraries, colleges or universities throughout the state.
Barry Lopez was the guest of the Minnesota Center for the Book in Minneapolis and in St. Paul in January 1993. Lisel Mueller, the 1981 winner for poetry, was sponsored in Feb. in Harrisburg by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. The Connecticut Center for the Book hosted novelist Philip Caputo at a program in Hamden on April 1-2, 1993.
Cristina Garcia, a 1992 National Book Award finalist in fiction, appeared in Phoenix under the auspices of the Arizona Center for the Book on April 1-2.
Norman Rush, winner of the 1992 fiction award for his novel Mating, spoke in Seattle on April 24-25, sponsored by the Washington Center for the Book.
The California Center for the Book's "Writing Life" program featured biographer and journalist Roger Morris, who shared his writing experiences at the California State Library in a program on Jan. 19, 1994. Three satellite programs featured California authors. Writer, actress and filmmaker Saundra Sharpe spoke on Jan. 19, 1994 at the Cerritos Community College in Norwalk. Poets Juan Felipe Herrea, Jose Montoya, and Cherrie Moraga read from their works on Jan. 21, 1994, at Modesto Junior College. And novelist April Sinclair was the guest speaker the Fresno Friends of the Library author program in Fresno on Jan. 29.
Paul Monette's National Book Award Lecture Published. Under the sponsorship of the Center for the Book and the National Book Foundation, which administers the National Book Award, the Library of Congress has published The Politics of Silence, a lecture by Paul Monette, the 1992 National Book Award winner for nonfiction. Mr. Monette's lecture was presented to an overflow audience in the Library's Mumford Room on Jan. 28, 1993.
It marked the Center for the Book's observance of National Book Week, a weeklong celebration of American books and writers that takes place the third week of each January. Paul Monette won the National Book Award for his work Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story. He also has written six novels, three collections of poems, and Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir.
The Politics of Silence is the fourth publication in a series of National Book Week Lectures sponsored by the Center for the Book and the National Book Foundation. A 21-page pamphlet, it was designed by Franklin Street Communications Inc. of Richmond, Va. It is available from the Library of Congress Sales Shop and by mail from the Library of Congress, Box J, Washington, DC 20540-8620. The price is $3.95. Add $2 per order (one to four copies) if ordering by mail. Credit card orders may be placed by phone. Call (202) 707-6095 to place orders or for more information.
WPA Dallas Guide Reprinted. The Texas Center for the Book, the Dallas Public Library and the University of North Texas Press have sponsored a reprint edition of The WPA Dallas Guide and History, which was written and compiled from 1936 to 1942 by the workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the City of Dallas. The 450-page book has a new introduction by Gerald D. Saxon of the University of Texas at Arlington, who edited the volume for publication with Maxine Holmes of the Dallas Public Library.
The volume is available from the Texas A&M University Press, Drawer C, College Station, TX 77843, or call (800) 826- 8911. The cost is $35 plus $3 for shipping and handling.
