State Library of Iowa Announces the 2025 All Iowa Reads Selections
The State Library of Iowa has announced the All Iowa Reads books for 2025!
Established in 2003, the purpose of the All Iowa Reads program is to foster a sense of community through reading. Iowans are encouraged to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title in the same calendar year. All Iowa Reads consists of three programs, each with one title chosen per year: adults, teens ages 12-18, and kids ages 8-12. Libraries, book clubs, schools and other local organizations are encouraged to sponsor discussions of the title... Read Full Blog
“When My Husband Ran for President…”
by Megan Klein-HewettIf you’ve lived in Iowa for any amount of time you probably know the last name Harkin. When you hear it, you probably think of Tom Harkin, long-time Senator from Iowa. Did you know that it was his wife, Ruth, who was the first in their family to run for office? She not only ran for, but won, the seat of Story County attorney in 1973, making her one of the first female prosecutors elected in the United States.
Ames Public Library, the Iowa Center for the Book, the Ames Writers Collective, and KHOI Community Radio are thrilled to host Ruth Harkin in pre... Read Full Blog
Great Reads from Great Places: 2024 Youth Author Event
Come meet the author of Ten Beautiful Things, Iowa's youth selection for the 2024 Great Reads from Great Places, Wednesday, November 13, at 10am. The event at Ames Public Library will be livestreamed on Zoom.
Molly Beth Griffin will share her writing process and the Iowa connections and inspirations behind this book. She’ll also offer tips and tricks for learning to notice the beautiful things all around us, and making art from what we find.
Books will be available to purchase at the event.
This free event is presented in partnership w...
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Iowa Center for the Book
Did you know that the Ames Public Library has a national distinction? As of April of this year, the library began serving as the Iowa Center for the Book. Each U.S. state and territory hosts a Center for the Book, which serves as an affiliate of the Library of Congress and promotes literacy and reading in their state. The Centers for the Book are also tasked with promoting their own state’s literary heritage; One way that is done is through the Great Reads from Great Places program, for which each Center selects an adult title and a youth title to represent their state.
For 2024, ... Read Full Blog
Great Reads Authors coming to Ames and Zoom
The authors of Iowa's 2024 selections for Great Reads from Great Places are coming to Iowa!
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Join Swine Republic author, Chris Jones, for an author talk and book signing Wednesday, October 30, at 7pm. The event at Ames Public Library will be livestreamed on Zoom.
The Swine Republic: Struggles With the Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality is Iowa's 2024 selection for adults for Great Reads from Great Places and an unexpected hit across Iowa.
Jones, a retired University of Iowa researcher, writes for a popular ... Read Full Blog
10 Beautiful Things Photo Contest
Iowa is full of beautiful things!
Celebrate our state and Ten Beautiful Things by Molly Beth Griffin—Iowa’s 2024 “Great Read from Great Places” selection for youth—with a photo contest.
Photo submissions are due September 30, 2024.
Use the online form to send a photo you have taken of something beautiful in Iowa. Winning entries will be displayed on the Iowa Center for the Book website, on Ames Public Library’s social media, or at Ames Public Library’s special exhibit November 1-30.
Find out more or submit your entry at
www.AmesPL.org/form/ten-...
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Library of Congress National Book Festival Partners with PBS Books
PBS Books to Stream Interviews with Eight Featured Authors Beginning July 10;
Watch them Here
Throughout history, the art of reading has nourished the mind, sharpened perspective and inspired change. Books are foundational building blocks to learning and the preface to understanding one another, the human condition and lived experience. In so many ways, books build us up, and that’s the theme for this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival.
Beginning July 10, bookworms across the country can get a glimpse of the 2024 Library of Congress Nation... Read Full Blog
Library of Congress National Book Festival Announces Full Author Lineup for 2024
Library of Congress National Book Festival Announces Full Author Lineup
Main Stage to Feature Sandra Cisneros, James S.A. Corey, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Max Greenfield, Tamron Hall, Abby Jimenez, Casey McQuiston, James McBride, James Patterson, Lish Steiling and Rebecca Yarros
The festival’s theme this year, “Books Build Us Up,” explores how reading can help connect us and inform our lives. It’s through books that readers can develop strong bonds with writers and their ideas — relationships that open the entire world, real or imagined, to us all.
Throughout ... Read Full Blog
Library of Congress Centers for the Book choose 2024 “Great Reads”
The 56 affiliated Centers for the Book of the Library of Congress have chosen books, called Great Reads, that will be recognized at the 2024 Library of Congress National Book Festival.
The Library of Congress Center for the Book (https://www.loc.gov/programs/center-for-the-book/about-this-program/) has affiliates in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and Northern Marianas. These affiliates carry out the center’s mission of promoting books, reading, libraries and literacy, as well as their local literary herit... Read Full Blog
Ames Public Library Becomes the Iowa Affiliate for Library of Congress Center for the Book
Ames Public Library is honored to announce its new designation as the Library of Congress Center for the Book Iowa Affiliate.
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress is a community of 56 Affiliated Centers, promoting reading, libraries and literacy through the Library of Congress and its Affiliated Centers across the country. These Centers also elevate and advocate for their state’s unique literary heritage. There is an Affiliate Center for the Book in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and Norther... Read Full Blog