Every year, the Vermont Book Awards honor four Vermont authors who showcase outstanding literary merit in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s literature.

Ann Dávila Cardinal’s nominated novel, The Storyteller’s Death, follows Isla Larsen Sanchez, a young woman whose life is shaped by her Puerto Rican family, death, and stories. The creation of the novel itself intertwined with Dávila Cardinal’s time at VCFA, originally finding its roots in a VCFA writing workshop.

Before the novel was nominated for a Vermont Book Award, VCFA interviewed Ann Dávila Cardinal on the amazing story behind the novel’s publication for VCFA’s annual alumnx magazine, in residence. You can read the story behind The Storyteller’s Death, as it appeared in the magazine, by clicking here.