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Letters About Literature

New Mexico’s Letters About Literature 2015

Letters About Literature encourages young readers to read a book and write a letter to the author about how the book changed their view of the world. This is the second year New Mexico State Library has sponsored the competition.

The entry deadline was January 15, 2015. The New Mexico winners will be announced in April and an awards ceremony will take place in Santa Fe May 8, 2015.

Readers in grades 4-12 write a personal letter to an author explaining how his or her work shaped their perspective on the world or themselves. Students may write about works of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Entries in Spanish were accepted and will be translated for the New Mexico judges. Letter writers compete at three levels: Level I is grades 4-6; Level II is grades 7-8; and Level III is grades 9-12.

State judges will select the top letter writers in New Mexico, who then advance to the national competition. One winning letter from each level from each state is entered into the final national competition.

New Mexico State Judges

Level 1 - Veronica N. Gonzales, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, Santa Fe

Michael Delello, State Librarian, New Mexico State Library, Department of Cultural Affairs, Santa Fe

Ben Wakashige, Retired New Mexico State Librarian, Rio Rancho

Level 2 – Angelina Manfredi, Youth Services, Los Alamos Public Library

Ken Dayer, Assistant Director/Public Services Manager, Silver City Public Library

David L. Caffey, Chair, New Mexico Library Commission, Clovis

Level 3 - John W. Byram, Director, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque

Veronica Beckett, Co-Owner, Coas Books, Las Cruces

Michael McGarrity, Novelist, Santa Fe

For more information about New Mexico’s Letters About Literature contest, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Lori Thornton at 505-476-9717.

Letters About Literature is sponsored by the New Mexico State Library, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs. Letters About Literature is also sponsored by The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.

To read about the Letters About Literature contest at the national level, please click here:

Letters About Literature – Center for the Book – Library of Congress