COMMUNITY AUTHORS

Authors Help Communities Remember

Every community has stories worth preserving.

Authors help capture local history, celebrate everyday heroes, inspire young readers, and create lasting memories that can be shared for generations.

Whether you write children's books, novels, poetry, memoirs, history, or educational resources, your stories can become part of a growing collection that preserves the history, imagination, and heart of communities everywhere.

The Community Story Shelf Initiative welcomes authors who believe stories have the power to bring people together.

How Authors Can Participate

Authors may choose to:

• Donate, sell, or provide signed copies of their books for Community Story Shelves.

• Participate in local book signings, readings, and community events.

• Support literacy and lifelong learning.

• Share stories that celebrate their community, history, culture, or imagination.

• Connect readers with places, people, and experiences that inspire kindness and curiosity.

Every author contributes in their own unique way.

Official Community Author Recognition

Authors who choose to become Official Community Author participants receive recognition as part of the Growing Our Communities network.

Participation may include opportunities such as:

• Recognition through official Community Author listings and promotional opportunities.

• Recognition within the Community Story Shelf initiative.

• Connections with participating libraries, schools, museums, organizations, businesses, and communities.

• Permission to display approved What if We chose Love Instead?™ in accordance with participation guidelines.

As the initiative grows, so will the opportunities to connect with readers and communities.

Why It Matters

Books have a unique ability to travel.

A story written in one community can inspire someone thousands of miles away.

Stories often become ambassadors for the communities they come from.

Every book placed on a Community Story Shelf becomes another opportunity for kindness, learning, imagination, and connection to continue growing.

Every author begins with a story.

Together, those stories help communities remember who they are.

Back to Growing Our Communities