Board Information
Message From the Board President
last updated: 7/24/2007
Welcome to the Missouri Center for the Book. We are proud to unveil our new website. Here you will find links to all things literary in and of the state of Missouri.
The Missouri Center for the Book was founded in 1993, part of the Library of Congress Center for the Book state affiliate program, and since then we have endeavored to raise awareness and appreciation within Missouri of our state’s rich written history. It is ironic that, all too often, the wonderful treasures in one’s own back yard go unnoticed, in lieu of appreciation of the marvels to be found just over the fence.
Consider the following quotes:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Catch the tradewinds in your sail. Dream. Explore. Discover."
"The more you love, the more you can love —and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just."
"There was no mistaking him. And, instead of a discussion of the campaign with the other gentlemen, Mr. Lincoln was defending what do you think? Mr. Lincoln was defending an occasional and judicious use of swear words."
"The instructor said,
Go home and write a page tonight
And let that page come out of you-
Then it will be true
I wonder if it’s that simple?"
Each of these came from the mind of a Missouri author. A small fragment of bodies of work rich in the resplendent complexities of literature at its best. How many can name these writers? And of those who can, how many recognize them to be from Missouri?
Our mission is one of memory. Of recognition. Of caretaking. The Missouri Center for the Book, through the programs you will find listed here and by future efforts yet unimagined, will remember and cherish the written legacy of our state. Please be welcome. Come inside and let us indulge in the joy of stories and memoirs, histories and essays, the poems and prose of our native scribes. This is a collaborative labor, born of love and wonder.
Words live by being read.
Thank you.
Oh, the authors? In order—Mark Twain, Robert A. Heinlein, Winston Churchill, and Langston Hughes. All Missourians.