Readers bound to find something when Emerging Local Authors launch

You eat local, shop local — why not read local?

The Emerging Local Author’s event is coming to the Greater Victoria Public Library on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. to showcase local authors work and celebrate the writing community on the Island.

This is the fifth year of the event which has unveiled more than 650 books by 561 local authors. This year 80 authors and 100 books will be unveiled including two books— The Raven and The Otter — by Leon McFadden, a local Indigenous author that Black Press profiled in February.

“I’m really excited,” he says. “I’d love to inspire people to draw, or do something with their minds and create.”

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The books being featured in the Local Emerging Author’s collection are placed on shelves at the front of the library, face out, in order to garner increased public’s attention and support.

“The biggest way we can tell if people are interested is if they check the book out and these books go out really well,” says Rina Hadziev, collection and technical services coordinator at the Greater Victoria Public Library. “We want to do what we can to support our local authors and make them starts locally.”

The books are given prime placement for one year and authors are given a chance to celebrate their accomplishments with family, friends and members of the public.

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“When a person writes a book, it really is truly a passion. For most of these people this is something they feel they have to do — it’s a labour of love,” says Hadziev. “It’s so fun to see people feel so seen and heard and validated for this.”

Hadziev assures the event’s core is a party to celebrate this mark of success for local authors. Attendees will hear a few speeches, watch the books be unveiled and enjoy snacks and refreshments and hopefully walk away with a locally authored, fresh new library book.

Hadziev says one of the most exciting aspects of the collection is the broad range of topics.

“We have everything from a book by a little girl, who is seven — it’s her second book, and she’s dedicated it to everyone who loves mermaids — to a book by a man who lives here about the tools of philosophy,” says Hadziev. “It’s really exciting to see the diversity in our community through the books they’ve written and chosen to share.”

There’s bound to be something for everyone on the library’s shelves.