Tag Archives: letters

Hoosier youth chronicling COVID-19

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The Indiana Center for the Book and the Indiana Young Readers Center are calling out for youth up to age 18 to report how their life experiences have changed in light of the global health crisis. The current pandemic has brought many aspects of life to a stop, while other aspects of life, like time with family, have been magnified. Youth are invited to share their observations during this unique time in the history of our state. Entries will be added to a permanent collection at the Indiana State Library.

Entry is simple. Download the editable PDF titled Hoosier Youth Chronicling COVID-19 and complete online or by hand. Each entry will need a License to Use form signed by both the child and a parent or guardian. This allows the Indiana State Library to use your form in future possible publications, in print or to display in our collection or online. You may also want to include one to two images, such as photographs you have taken or pictures of artwork you have created. Images are optional.

All entries may be submitted via email to Tara Maxwell Stewart, or mailed to the Indiana State Library:

Indiana State Library
Attn: Indiana Young Readers Center
315 W. Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202

While there is no current deadline for entries to the collection, we would like to collect thoughts in real time as students are home from school.

The Indiana Young Readers Center also wants to draw your attention to a wonderful packet created by Natalie Long of Long Creations. Natalie says, “This is something I designed for fellow families with children living through this difficult time, it is meant as a gift, not for profit.” Families are welcome to include the packet in their submissions to the Indiana State Library, but please note that the packet is optional.

If you have any questions about submitting your child’s work to the Indiana State Library, please reach out to Tara Maxwell Stewart.

The post was written by Indiana Young Readers Center Program Coordinator Tara Stewart and Indiana Young Readers Center Librarian Suzanne Walker.

Authors’ ‘love letters’ hidden in Indiana library books

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The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award is celebrating 10 years this year! To help celebrate the award, there are over 15 letters from Indiana authors being tucked into books in public libraries all around the state. Lucky readers will find these notes and will get to keep them. The program is called “Love Letters to Our State’s Readers” and is coordinated by the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award and the Indiana Center for the Book at the Indiana State Library.

Participating authors include Ray Boomhower, Sarah Gerkensmeyer, John Green, Norbert Krapf, Lori Rader-Day, Scott Russell Sanders and Barb Shoup. The notes range from short and sweet handwritten postcards to long typed letters to the reader. Participating libraries were chosen based on geographic areas where the authors are from. When a reader finds a note in a book, they receive a postcard about the program as well. The postcard says:

“When reading a story, do you ever wonder about the author who created it? They think about you! And many of them are even Hoosiers like yourself, including the author of the book you’re reading now. As we celebrate 10 years of the Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, some of our past winners wanted to thank you for your role in keeping their stories alive. Enjoy this note from them. You’re welcome to keep it!”

Readers interested in finding a note should watch the #INauthor hashtag. As notes are being hidden, clues as to their whereabouts will be posted on Twitter and Facebook. Readers who find the notes are welcome to post out as well using the #INauthor hashtag to share their excitement. Notes will hit library shelves as early as Aug. 6, 2018 and will continue to be hidden in the weeks leading up to the Indiana Authors Award Dinner on Oct. 13, 2018. Caity Withers, development officer at the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation, had this to say about the program, “If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the 10 years of this award program, it’s that the relationship between readers and writers is symbiotic. Writers start as readers who fell in love with a book and we need writers to keep creating books readers will fall in love with. Indiana is full of book lovers, both readers and writers, and we’re excited to celebrate them through this initiative.”

Want to learn more about authors in your own community? Check out the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award or The Indiana Center for the Book.

Submitted by Suzanne Walker, Indiana Young Readers Center librarian at the Indiana State Library and director of the Indiana Center for the Book.