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Center for the Book

Literature. Literacy. Learning

What is Center for the Book?

Established in 1977, The Center for the Book is a Library of Congress affiliate program that promotes literature and literacy in all fifty states and six territories through public programming. Florida Humanities was designated the state’s Center for the Book affiliate in 2021. Affiliate locations produce a diverse range of events, lectures, and partnerships to achieve the Library of Congress’ mission. Florida Humanities has crafted public programs and funding opportunities to share our love and appreciation of literature, literacy, and learning.

PBS Books is Heading to Florida!

Help Plan Our Reading Road Trip!

PBS Books is currently developing a new installment in its nationwide series American Stories: A Reading Road Trip which shines a spotlight on individual U.S. states and select territories to uncover their one-of-a-kind literary treasures.

In partnership with the Library of Congress and Florida Humanities Center for the Book, Florida will be featured in an upcoming episode of A Reading Road Trip expected to air summer of 2027. The episode will focus on authors both old and new, as well as landmarks and bookstores that have helped tell our state’s literary story.

That’s why we want to hear from you! Fill out the survey below for a chance to have your favorite bookstore, library or piece of Florida history featured in the upcoming PBS Feature.

When filling out the survey, you’ll have the opportunity to enter a drawing to receive a free University Press of Florida and Florida Humanities book bundle!

Take the Survey

Book Festival Grants

St. Pete Reads! LitFest/Photo by Élan Vital Visuals

For the Love of Reading!

Florida Humanities provided over $180,000 to more than 20 book festivals from May 2022 through April 2024. Cultural organizations including libraries, museums, colleges, and more hosted these festivals across the state in communities large and small. Festivals ranged from one day to a full month, featuring authors from Florida and beyond, writing workshops, panels, discussions, and hands-on activities for families and children.

Learn more about Book Festival Grants

Highlights from the National Book Festival

Great Reads from Great Places 2026

In 2026, Florida Humanities Center for the Book selected Judith Bense’s Early Spanish Florida: Unearthing America’s Oldest Colony (University Press of Florida, 2026) and Eileen R. Meyer’s The Superlative A. Lincoln: Poems About Our 16th President (Charlesbridge, 2019) as the National Book Festival’s “Great Reads from Great Places” selections.

In The Superlative A. Lincoln, author Eileen Meyer lets readers get to know the more personal side of Honest Abe (his least favorite nickname!) through fresh and funny poems. Judith Bense’s Early Spanish Florida vividly explores the more than 300-year history of Spanish influence in early colonial Florida, discovering many overlooked stories along the way.

Listen to Our Conversation with the Authors

Great Reads from Great Places 2025

In 2025, Florida Humanities Center for the Book selected Aracelis González Asendorf’s Dressing the Saints (Black Lawrence Press, 2024) and Sita Singh’s Mango Memories (Penguin Random House, 2024) as the National Book Festival’s “Great Reads from Great Places” selections.

In Mango Memories, a little girl finally reaches the age when she can help her family harvest mangoes from the branches of her favorite tree. Set in a lush mango grove, Sita Singh’s 2024 Florida Book Award-winning children’s book honors generational traditions and beautifully introduces young readers to a culture with which they may not be familiar. Aracelis González Asendorf’s Dressing the Saints vividly explores the lives of Cuban Americans in a beautiful collection of short stories which received a gold medal at the 2024 Florida Book Awards for general fiction. Taking place in both Cuba and Florida, and spanning decades, the stories chronicle lives left behind and new ones forged with struggle, melancholy, and hope.

Listen to Our Conversation with the Authors

Great Reads from Great Places 2024

In 2024, Florida Humanities Center for the Book selected Rebecca Renner’s Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades (Flatiron Books, 2023) and Sara E. Echenique’s Our Roof is Blue (Charlesbridge, 2023) as the National Book Festival’s “Great Reads from Great Places” selections.

Echenique’s children’s book tells the heartfelt story of the resilience of two siblings as they work to recover and rebuild after Hurricane Maria destroys their home in Puerto Rico. Renner’s nonfiction narrative is a page-turning, head-spinning true story of an underground operation into the mysterious world of alligator poaching and its larger-than-life Floridian characters.

Listen to Our Conversation with the Authors

Great Reads from Great Places 2023

During the 2023 National Book Festival, representatives from 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and Northern Marianas gathered to promote the books they selected to reflect their local literary heritage.

As Florida’s Center for the Book, Florida Humanities chose The Bluest Sky (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022) by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Dreams in a New Century (University Press of Florida, 2022) by Gary Mormino as its selections.

Watch Our Conversation with Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Route1 Reads 2022

Launched at the 2015 National Book Festival, The Route1Reads initiative is a partnership between 16 Centers for the Book to promote stories that illuminate the important aspects of the states and commonwealths connected by the 2,369 miles of U.S. Route 1 from Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida.

Florida’s Route1Reads 2022 selection is Florida by award-winning author Lauren Groff. A finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and winner of the Story Prize, Florida brings readers into a place where the hazards of the natural world lie in waiting to pounce, but the greatest mysteries and threats are emotional and psychological. Groff’s short stories center around Florida’s landscapes, climate, history, and state of mind yet span characters, towns, decades, and centuries.

Read our Q&A with Lauren Groff

Florida’s 2022 selection is Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers from award-winning author Celia Perez

Great Reads from Great Places 2022

Great Reads from Great Places is an annual feature of the National Book Festival that celebrates each states’ and territories’ literary culture with young reader titles. Florida’s 2022 selection is Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers from award-winning author Celia C. Pérez about the story of four kids who form an alternative scout troop that shakes up their sleepy Florida town.

When three girls from different backgrounds find a mysterious invitation to a lavish mansion, the promise of adventure and mischief is too intriguing to pass up. When the kids meet the invitation’s creator, they bond over a shared mission to get their local scout troop, to leave behind an outdated and eco-destructive tradition. Their quest for justice and independence over one unforgettable summer leads to a bond of friendship and understanding that lasts a lifetime.

Watch our Q&A with Celia C. Pérez

Funding Opportunities

For any of the opportunities listed below please contact, grants@flahum.org.

Book Festival Grants

Funding Amount: Up to $10,000

About: Supports events that celebrate the joy of reading and encourages thoughtful interactions between authors and their readers, and reflect on how literature conveys the human experience.

Learn More

Florida Talks Speakers’ Program

Deadline: Applications accepted on a rolling basis no later than 6 weeks prior to the proposed program date.

About: Florida Talks offers nonprofit organizations an accessible way to host engaging speakers through our speakers’ directory. Speakers present on Florida’s history, heritage, and culture through historical and contemporary lenses.

Learn More

Florida Humanities Center for the Book is an affiliate program of the Library of Congress.