Author Joanne Haynes, has donated over 100 copies of her award-winning book, Sapotee Soil, to Secondary school libraries throughout Trinidad and Tobago.
Sapotee Soil, Winner of the Derek Walcott Literature Prize, is the NALIS, ELSD One Book Many Schools (OBMS) Selection for 2023 – 2024.
The OBMS programme requires schools to purchase copies of the book for librarians to engage the school population in reading and doing activities related to the One Book selected.
Recognizing the limited funding schools have, Haynes reached out to supporters of her work to purchase copies for distribution to school libraries.
Haynes, in thanking her sponsors for their support said: ‘The OBMS Programme is a really brilliant concept that reminds our students about the love of reading simply for enjoyment, not for testing. I am honored to have Sapotee Soil selected and I hope to see the OBMS programme continued and further supported. I noticed that despite schools having just one or two copies, many schools had also adopted Sapotee Soil as their Reading Club book and I thought it would be great to furnish as many school libraries as I could, with more copies. Thank you to my sponsors for helping me to be able to do this, I really couldn’t have done this without your support.’
