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U.S. Virgin Islands, December 2, 2024 — The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) is seeking public input to help select the USVI Center for the Book's 2025 Great Read submissions to represent the territory at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025.
"We welcome nominations from the community for a Virgin Islands children's book and an adult book whose body of work demonstrates excellence, engenders a love of literature, and promotes lifelong literacy," said CFVI President, Dee Baecher-Brown.
CFVI was honored by the Library of Congress in 2022 with an invitation to serve as the Center for the Book for the U.S. Virgin Islands. Congress created the Library’s Center for the Book in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books and reading.
As the USVI affiliate, CFVI is responsible for collaborating with the Library on literacy programming, services, and collections, developing independent local programs and literary heritage projects, including developing initiatives and public programs to promote literacy, reading, book arts, poetry, and USVI literary heritage.
As part of the National Book Festival, each state and territory affiliate is invited to name a children’s and adult book as its designated Great Reads for the year and a list of the books is distributed during the festival.
"For USVI submissions, books may be written by authors from the territory, take place in the Virgin Islands, or celebrate the USVI's culture and heritage," said Baecher-Brown. "A nominated author's body of work should offer readers the opportunity to delight in, reflect upon, and make connections with their world."
In addition, nominees must be from the USVI or have lived there at some point during their life, and the book must currently be in print and available for purchase in multiple locations. The selection committee will not consider self-nominations; ancillary materials such as published reviews and author brochures; self-published books; or nominations that are not complete, do not fully meet the established criteria, or are not received by the deadline.
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, Dec. 31. Nominations will be reviewed by an advisory committee of individuals familiar with literary work in the territory and rated in the areas of cultural significance, innovation, diversity and inclusivity, audience appeal, originality, impact, and literary merit. Selections will be publicly announced in April.
For more information and to submit a recommendation, visit cfvi.co/USVIgreatreads2025.
Prior 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."
Since the first National Book Festival in 2001, it has become one of the most prominent literary events in the United States that unifies best-selling authors and thousands of readers for author talks, panel discussions, book signings, and other engaging activities.
For more information about the National Book Festival, visit loc.gov/programs/national-book-festival.
For more information about the Library of Congress Center for the Book,
visit read.gov/cfb.
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