Columbia Library Seeks Book Picks for One Read 2027

Columbia’s Daniel Boone Regional Library is now taking public nominations for One Read 2027, the program’s yearly pick for Boone and Callaway counties. Readers can suggest a book at any DBRL branch, on the bookmobile, or online through the library’s One Read page.

How does One Read pick a book?

Each November, the public submits suggestions for the following year’s pick. Over the winter, a task force of community members, schools, media and agencies narrows that list down to 10 titles, then selects two or three finalists for a public vote in the spring, according to the library. This year’s program, the 25th anniversary of One Read, centered on “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt; the library’s 2026 Writing Contest winners, inspired by the book’s animal narrators, were Joei Asher-Smith and Alyssa Holland, with honorable mentions to Taryn Duffy and Shelby Guag.

What about the Local Authors Open House?

The library’s other fall literary tradition, the Local Authors Open House, is set for Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Columbia Public Library, where more than 40 local and regional authors will sell and sign books and talk about their writing. The library says the event is already full; readers who still want to go can join a wait list through the library’s website.

Both events run through the same library system that keeps Rocheport’s bookmobile stop on Central Street running, and the same one Rocheport turned out for at October’s Reader’s Roper Romp fundraiser.