Mission Statement

Read North Dakota is dedicated to celebrating and promoting literature created in and about North Dakota.

Statement of Purpose

Read North Dakota encourages readers, writers, and educators to enjoy good literature rooted in our own place by identifying relevant book titles and authors on a web site, in printed materials, and through public events and discussion groups.

Engaging in thoughtful conversations about the people, communities, landscapes, and values portrayed in books which have helped shape our citizens and state, North Dakotans will better understand ourselves and our neighbors. At the same time, those outside the state's borders will discover and appreciate the forces that have helped to form North Dakota's literary and cultural heritage and character.

Read North Dakota Criteria

A work must meet at least one of these criteria in order to be added to the Read North Dakota Collection:

• It has been reviewed in a professional journal.

• It has received an award from an accredited organization.

• It was published by a small press publisher, which takes responsibility for editorial selection, binding and review, and marketing the book at its own expense (not the author’s).

• It was published by an academic press, a historical society, or an educational or cultural institution.  Failing to meet these criteria, a book may be accepted in the “self-published” category, on a case-by-case basis, but particularly if the author’s body of work includes previous publications that have met any of these criteria. 

Failing to meet these criteria, a work that has been printed and bound by a printer at the author’s expense, without editorial selection or review, may be listed in the “also available” category.