• Tune in to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCve4tLb8bIVFvdcg1pQI49Q/featured" > our YouTube page</a> for video highlights of our awards & programs, including A Baker’s Dozen storytimes with Asst. Director, Ellysa Stern Cahoy, Public Poetry Project presentations, Poems from Life readings, & more!

    Visit us on YouTube!

    Tune in to our YouTube page for video highlights of our awards & programs, including A Baker’s Dozen storytimes with Asst. Director, Ellysa Stern Cahoy, Public Poetry Project presentations, Poems from Life readings, & more!

    Winner, “Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison” edited by Sarah Mirk (Abrams ComicArts), is a collection of journalistic narratives on the experiences within the US justice system - <a href="https://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/awards-contests/lynd-ward-graphic-novel-prize">read more here</a>, and about honor books, “Dragon Hoops” by Gene Luen Yang (First Second Books) and "Welcome to the New World" by Jake Halpern & Michael Sloan!</p>

    2021 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize

    Winner, “Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison” edited by Sarah Mirk (Abrams ComicArts), is a collection of journalistic narratives on the experiences within the US justice system - read more here, and about honor books, “Dragon Hoops” by Gene Luen Yang (First Second Books) and "Welcome to the New World" by Jake Halpern & Michael Sloan!

    Travel valleys & verses along Route 1 with this year’s poetry theme, featuring Pennsylvania's pick: "Shale Play: Poems and Photographs from the Fracking Fields," a lush, multiple-view journey through communities touched by fracking, by poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf & photographer Steven Rubin (Penn State Press) - <a href="https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/route1reads-2021">learn more here...!</a>

    Route1Reads

    Travel valleys & verses along Route 1 with this year’s poetry theme, featuring Pennsylvania's pick: "Shale Play: Poems and Photographs from the Fracking Fields," a lush, multiple-view journey through communities touched by fracking, by poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf & photographer Steven Rubin (Penn State Press) - learn more here...!

    We honor and celebrate the life of <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/readingeagle/name/steven-herb-obituary?id=31994075">Steven Herb</a>, Founding Director Emeritus of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. His generosity of spirit, scholarly mind, storytelling, humor, and leadership inspired joy and collective flourishing in his field and within individuals.

    Remembering Steven Herb

    We honor and celebrate the life of Steven Herb, Founding Director Emeritus of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. His generosity of spirit, scholarly mind, storytelling, humor, and leadership inspired joy and collective flourishing in his field and within individuals.

    This year’s winner is <a href="https://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/awards-contests/lee-bennett-hopkins-poetry-award">“The 1619 Project: Born on the Water,”</a> an historical narrative told in a series of lyrical poems, by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith (Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group)!

    2022 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

    This year’s winner is “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water,” an historical narrative told in a series of lyrical poems, by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith (Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group)!

Welcome

With a mission to study, honor, celebrate, and promote books, reading, libraries, and literacy in Pennsylvania (PA), the PA Center for the Book sponsors several literary awards and events, and develops a wide range of educational content across multiple media to connect with its broad audience and to celebrate PA’s continued contributions to culture and literature.

Explore this site to learn more about the Center’s Literary & Cultural Heritage Map of PA, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children’s Poetry, Baker’s Dozen List of Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy, and so much more!

Read more about the Center’s background here…

Events!

Poems from Life with Juniper Village
Celebratory Reading & Event
Thu, May 12 - 6:30-8pm at:
Juniper Village at Brookline
1930 Cliffside Drive
State College, PA 16801
Facebook Event

What's New?

The 2022 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award goes to The 1619 Project: Born on the Water' by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith

Remembering Steven Herb, Pennsylvania Center for the Book's Beloved Founding Director

Sarah Mirk's Guantanamo Voices wins 2021 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize
- View Recorded Event! -

Curricula & geospatial tech join forces in Cross-referencing Maps to Restore Missing Voices