Help Select USVI’s Great Reads: CFVI Invites Public Nominations for National Book Festival

The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands is asking the public to help select one children's book and one adult book to represent the territory at next year's National Book Festival. The selected books, which will be designated as Great Reads for the year, should either be “written by authors from the territory, take place in the Virgin Islands, or celebrate the USVI's culture and heritage,” said CFVI President Dee Baecher-Brown. The selected authors, if not born in the territory, must have lived in the USVI at some point during their life. The nominated books must currently be in print and available for purchase in more than one location. Self-published books are not eligible for selection. The intention is to showcase a body of work which “demonstrates excellence, engenders a love of literature, and promotes lifelong literacy,” she added. In 2022, CFVI was chosen by the Library of Congress to serve as the Center of the Book for the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Center for the Book...