Welcome

Welcome to The Virginia Yerxa Community Read website. Since 2010, the VYCR has sought to promote reading, and support our community, through an annual book-in-common experience.

The Virginia Yerxa Community Read is honored to announce Octavia Butler’s Kindred as the 2026 book-in-common. This year’s selection recognizes the profound and growing impact of speculative fiction and science fiction on contemporary literature and cultural conversation. Butler’s masterwork stands at the crossroads of both genres, using elements of time travel and the speculative to illuminate the realities of American history in ways that traditional narratives often cannot.

Each year, the Virginia Read Day events are free to the public, thanks to the support of generous donors and sponsors. For a list of those are helping to build the 2026 events, click here.