Nebraska Center for the Book

The Center's goal is to bring "readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars" together to excite interest in "the written word".

[2] In 2019 the Center was at the center of a political controversy when Governor Pete Ricketts refused to sign the customary proclamation declaring the winner on the grounds that the winning book, This Blessed Earth, by written by Nebraska journalist and author Ted Genoways, is a "political activist" whose book is "divisive.

"[3] According to the Associated Press, Genoways has been critical of Obama administration policies, of the fact that Nebraska has an entirely Republican congressional delegation and of the Keystone XL pipeline.

[4] The Mildred Bennett Award is given to an individual for a significant contribution to the Nebraska literary tradition.

[5] It is named in honor of Mildred Bennett, who was the founding president of Nebraska's Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation.