Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program Honored by Library of Congress: ‘Titan of Children’s Literacy’

8/26/2026 The icon and literacy advocate died at the age of 80. Dolly Parton meets young children at the Magna Science and Adventure Park on Dec. 5, 2007, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, where she honored the former steelworks town as the first European location to participate in her 'Imagination Library' literacy program. Pool/Getty Images One of Dolly Parton‘s greatest passions was instilling a love of reading and storytelling in young minds, and in light of her culture-shaking death on Tuesday (Aug. 25), her work in the literary world was honored at the highest possible institutional level in the United States. The Library of Congress shared a tribute to the Queen of Country on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after news of her dying at the age of 80 was shared earlier that day. “The