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Iowa Student Wins National Writing Contest
Audrey Keranen, an 11th grader from Iowa City, is a national winner in this year’s Letters About Literature contest. She and her parents will get an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC where Audrey will read her letter at the National Book Festival on September 29, 2007.
In her letter to Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, Audrey wrote:
“Mr. Hosseini, if it hadn’t been for your novel, I would not be where I am today. Your book was eye-opening, to use a cliché with all possible seriousness, and it awoke me to other opportunities. At the summer institute, I was able to visit a mosque, examine artifacts, pluck at instruments, and sample foods from the other side of the world. I would never have attempted to do any of these things had your novel not haunted me for months after turning the last page.”
Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing program for youth in grades 4 through 12. Students write to a favorite author—past or present—describing how an author’s work changed the readers’ views of the world or themselves. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes.
Nationally, there were more than 56,000 letters entered in the contest. In Iowa, 1,921 students participated. Letters About Literature is sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress; the Iowa Center for the Book, State Library; and Target Stores.
“Mr. Hosseini, if it hadn’t been for your novel, I would not be where I am today. Your book was eye-opening, to use a cliché with all possible seriousness, and it awoke me to other opportunities. At the summer institute, I was able to visit a mosque, examine artifacts, pluck at instruments, and sample foods from the other side of the world. I would never have attempted to do any of these things had your novel not haunted me for months after turning the last page.”
Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing program for youth in grades 4 through 12. Students write to a favorite author—past or present—describing how an author’s work changed the readers’ views of the world or themselves. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes.
Nationally, there were more than 56,000 letters entered in the contest. In Iowa, 1,921 students participated. Letters About Literature is sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress; the Iowa Center for the Book, State Library; and Target Stores.