Introduction: The vertical-occipital fasciculus (VOF), which was initially described by Wernicke more than a century ago but recently rediscovered, connects visual association cortices to the posterior language areas. We hypothesized that the vertical-occipital fasciculus plays a critical role in reading. Methods: Thirty-two participants with subacute to chronic left hemispheric stroke leading to varying degrees of aphasia were enrolled in the study and underwent concurrent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and language assessment. Assessments included the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) to assess oral reading and reading comprehension and the Boston Naming Test to assess picture naming. Two major cortico-cortical projection pathways, VOF, connected with posterior language cortices and frontal aslant tract (FAT), connecting anterior language areas, were mapped with deterministic tractography and quantified bilaterally. We conducted partial correlations between fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the tracts and reading and picture naming scores, controlling for age, education, and total lesion load. We corrected for multiple comparisons at the false discovery rate (FDR) (p<0.05). Results: FA of left VOF was found to be significantly correlated with BDAE total reading scores (r=0.49, p=0.004), and this remained significant after FDR correction (p=0.03). Although a significant correlation was seen between picture naming and left VOF FA (r=0.41, p=0.02), and right VOF FA (r=0.37, p=0.04), these associations were not significant after FDR correction (p>0.05). FAT FA values were not significantly associated with oral reading or picture naming tests. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence that left VOF plays a potential role in reading after left hemispheric stroke.