VCU Friends of the Library, faculty, staff, and students are all welcome and encouraged to become a part of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award process by reading and reviewing this year's eligible novels. Over 50 books have already been submitted for the 2009 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Your participation will be extremely helpful in narrowing down the selection for the judges, who will then determine the winner of the award from a short list of finalists.
The books are available for check out from Media and Reserve Services, located on the third floor of the James Branch Cabell Library. A valid VCU eID or VCU Friends of the Library Donor Card is all you will need to check out a book and start reading. A list of the novels and their current availability can be found in the VCU Cabell First Novelist Catalog. The VCU Libraries Course Reserve Catalog can also be searched by words in title or author, Course Number (First Novelist Award), or Instructor (Cabell First Novelist Award). These books have a loan period of seven days, and may be renewed once. After checking out a novel and reading it, the most important thing for you to do is review it. Paper copies of the review forms will be available with each book at the Media and Reserve Services Desk. Please take one, fill it out, and return it to Media and Reserve Services along with the book. Review forms are also available online in PDF format and in Microsoft Word format.
Thank you for your interest and participation. Your help with this process is greatly appreciated, and we also hope you will enjoy reading these first novels by promising new authors.
Presented annually by the VCU MFA Program in Creative Writing, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award honors the best debut novel published during a calendar year. The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award is sponsored by the VCU Department of English, James Branch Cabell Library Associates, VCU Friends of the Library, VCU Libraries, VCU Honors College, and VCU College of Humanities and Sciences.