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Literature Programs
Our Literature Programs commemorate and promote appreciation for our state’s rich literary heritage and engage Missourians in literature and reading. By creating learning opportunities that bring greater awareness to authors and literature from Missouri and beyond, we encourage reading for pleasure among Missourians of all ages to foster communities where literature thrives.
Heartland Book Fest
Missouri Center for the Book
The Missouri Center for the Book is a program of Missouri Humanities and the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Our mission is to commemorate and promote appreciation for and greater awareness of Missouri’s rich literary heritage. This includes hosting an annual regional Book Festival and selecting two books to represent the state at the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. every year. These titles are added to the Great Reads from Great Places book list. The list features books and authors representing the literary heritage of all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Since receiving Affiliate Center status in 2021, our work is guided by input from numerous literary and literacy-based organizations, authors, and educators from across the state of Missouri who serve on the Missouri Center for the Book (MOCFTB) Planning Team.
Missouri's Great Reads From Great Places
Selections for the 2024 National Book Festival
For Young Readers
Mexikid: A Graphic Novel
by Pedro Martín
For Adult Readers
Bindle Punk Bruja
by Desideria Mesa
Missouri's “Great Reads from Great Places” 2024
Features books and authors representing the literary heritage of all 50 states and U.S. territories as part of the National Book Festival in 2024.
Heartland
Book Festival
The Heartland Book Festival had it’s inaugural debut in downtown Kansas City on October 6th and 7th, 2023. Read the blog to learn more!
Missouri's “Great Reads from Great Places” 2023
Features books and authors representing the literary heritage of all 50 states and U.S. territories as part of the National Book Festival in 2023.
Meet the Missouri Center for the Book Planning Team
Nelson Appell. Director, Washigton Public Library
Daniel R. Biegelson. Associate Editor, The Laurel Review, Director of the Visiting Writers Series, and Senior Instructor of Literature and Writing, Northwest Missouri State University
Dr. Virginia Blanton. University of Missouri Curators’ Distinguished Professor, University of Missouri-KC
John Brenner. Managing Editor, The State Historical Society of Missouri
Nicole Clawson. Manager Youth Services, St. Louis County Library
Andrew Davidson. Editor in Chief, University of Missouri Press
Kristin Droege. Executive Director, Turn the Page KC
Tina Casagrand Foss. Founder and Executive Director of The New Territory Magazine
Lisa Greening. Executive Director, Turn the Page STL
Sarah Howard. Youth & Community Services Manager, Daniel Boone Regional Library
Rev. Nicholas W. Inman. Director, Laura Ingalls Wilder Home & Museum and Missouri Humanities Board Secretary
Dawn Kitchell. Owner, Neighborhood Reads Bookstore and chair of the Community Literacy Foundation
Maya Kucij. Director, Children’s Literature Festival, Assistant University and Special Collections Librarian, James C. Kirkpatrick Library, University of Central Missouri
Lauren Olson. Director of Community Programming, Turn the Page KC
Robin Rennison. Marketing Manager, University of Missouri Press
Virginia Sanders. Special Initiatives Coordinator, Missouri Arts Council
Kaite Stover. Director of Reader’s Services, Kansas City Public Library
Maryfrances Wagner. Missouri State Poet Laureate (2021-2023)
Laura Williams. Adult and Community Services Manager & One Read, Daniel Boone Regional Library
"I am overjoyed to have my story recognized by Missouri Humanities and the Missouri Center for the Book. Missouri has been my home longer than any other place I’ve ever lived. Its rich storytelling traditions have shaped me into the writer that I’ve become. Thank you, Missouri!"
– Pedro Martín
Read from the Start
Children who grow up hearing stories and looking at books will fall in love with language. Read from the Start, MHC’s family reading initiative, is offered free of charge and empowers parents and caregivers to read to their young children.
