Schools get copies of Sapotee Soil

Over 100 copies of the award-winning book Sapotee Soil, written by Joanne Haynes, were donated to secondary schools libraries across Trinidad and Tobago.

Haynes is a winner of the Derek Walcott Literature Prize and a Commonwealth short story finalist. Her Sapotee Soil was included in the National Library and Information System's (Nalis) One Book Many Schools (OBMS) selection for the 2023-2024 secondary school reading programme.

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 selected book, a media release said.

Haynes said because she recognised the limited funding schools have, she reached out to supporters of her work to purchase copies of her book for distribution to the school libraries, the release said. Several sponsors from various fields responded, making the donation possible.

"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," Haynes said in the release. "Thank you to my sponsors for helping me to be able to do this, I really couldn’t have done this without your support."

Haynes praised the OBMS programme and said she was honoured to have Sapotee Soil selected, and hoped to see the programme continue and receive further support.

Nalis website says the OBMS initiative seeks to encourage students to read Caribbean literature and bring awareness of its importance and value, inspire a love for reading, introduce local authors, foster an appreciation of local culture, cultivate critical thinking skills, strengthen the use of media and information literacy skills and broaden the horizons of the students.

The release said support for Haynes' donation to the school libraries came from Southern Sales and Services Company Ltd, Walcott Holdings Ltd, HHH Consulting Ltd, Innovative Security Technologies Ltd, Atlantic, Gulf City, Ahsan Project Management and Consultancy Ltd, 519 and Dr Sudesh Baliram.