If you aren’t familiar with the Literary Ventures Fund, I’d like to introduce you. The Literary Ventures Fund is a non-profit organization that provides support, resources, expertise, and funds to authors and publishers that need help in advancing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry and creating potential for broad readership to reach the widest possible audience and remain in print for years to come.

Why they do what they do:

Literature has a profound impact on our lives. Great books transport readers, illuminate their values, and bring meaning and context to their lives. They have the power to inspire, console, and provoke; they enlighten us and affect us long after we’ve put a book down.

We believe that literature is at risk, as are the economic and support systems that traditionally have connected great writers to readers. In many cases these systems no longer exist, disrupted in part by consolidation and the intrinsic pressures on the remaining large publishing houses to give preference to books that sell to the mass market. LVF is built on the premise that, given a level playing field, great works of literature can thrive in the marketplace.

It’s great to see somebody like Literary Ventures Fund reach out and ensure that the books that should be read get the chance to reach their audiences.  You can see all of their current books here as well as reading group guides for each one.

It’s been my pleasure to receive books from Literary Ventures Fund for review and was delighted to discover Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway through their efforts, a book which I really enjoyed.

Literary Ventures Fund has graciously donated The First Hurt, Stories by Rachel Sherman, The Leper Compound by Paula Nangle, Feather Man by Rhyll McMaste, The Spirit of the Place by Samuel Shem, Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway to be given away in my Blogging & Reading for Darfur campaign which will be wrapping up this next week.  Thanks to all who have gotten involved and if you haven’t yet, there is still a few days left.  Just enough time to finish up your book or watch a documentary.

Many thanks to the Literary Ventures Fund and I can’t wait until they announce their new batch of books, which will be shortly.