The Alaska Center for the Book selected one youth book and one adult book by Alaska authors to represent the state at the 2022 National Book Festival: “Recess at 20 Below” by Cindy Lou Aillaud and “A Thousand Trails Home, Living with Caribou” by Seth Kantner.

Both titles are part of National Center for the Book’s Great Reads from Great Places program. Great Reads from Great Places features books and authors representing the literary heritage of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Marianas. For more than 20 years this program has included a highlighted youth title from each affiliate center. In 2022, “Great Reads from Great Places” is including titles for adults for the first time.

“We are thrilled to showcase these wonderful titles from Alaska authors and share them with this year’s National Book Festival participants,” said Alaska Center for the Book co-president Sara Juday.
This year’s National Book Festival on Sept. 3 will be held in-person in Washington, D.C., and will include many livestreamed and recorded virtual programs celebrating books and authors. Cindy Aillaud will take part in an online panel conversation with other chosen authors from state Centers for the Book in the Western Region to talk about her book and what inspired her to write Recess at 20 Below.

This and other panel discussions will be posted toward the end of August on the National Book Festival website and the Library of Congress’s YouTube channel.