An (Extremely) Fond Farewell to Dolly Parton, Library Friend and Children’s Literacy Champion

Dolly Parton, the beloved country music legend and pop culture icon who died Tuesday, was also a tireless advocate for children’s literacy whose Imagination Library was given one of Library’s highest honors, the David M. Rubenstein Prize in the Library of Congress Literacy Awards. In 2018, Parton came to the Library to donate the 100 millionth copy of books mailed to children in her program and spent the day, part of which she read to children in the Library’s Great Hall.