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 was created in 1977 to promote interest in books and reading among the public. Each organization so designated across the country is tasked with naming a children's and adult book as its Great Reads, and a list of all the Great Reads for the year is distributed during the annual National Book Festival, which in 2025 is slated for September 6 in Washington, D.C.
Nominations will be accepted online until December 31, 2024. Past Great Reads selections from the USVI include “James and the Fireburn,” “Fireburn the Screenplay,” “Monster in the Middle,” “King and the Dragonflies,” “The Lesson,” and “Ziggy on the Rock.”
