Welland library promoting local authors with weekend event

LAURA BARTON

This Saturday, residents will have the chance to engage with local authors in a meet-and-greet style event at Welland Civic Square.

Local Author Day is hosted by the Welland Public Library and will have roughly 12 local authors from all over Niagara set up in the Community Room at civic square on Saturday afternoon.

Jason Redshaw, coordinator of adult services at the library, said the event is a great opportunity for people to meet and ask questions of local authors who may be a staple in the writing community or are up-and-comers navigating the publishing world.

“They cover a pretty good spectrum,” Redshaw said.

He said they also cover a good range in terms of subject matter. Some of the authors, he said, are children’s authors, others write fiction novels, and there is also an author with non-fictional local history work that will be present.

He said the authors were chosen based on their presence, many of the authors having also hosted workshops or done readings at the library before.

This event is a way for the library to thank these authors for their support of the library while also giving them the opportunity to showcase their work, Redshaw said.

The event itself is free to attend, but authors will also have copies of their work available for purchase.

Redshaw said the library hosted an author day in June 2016, but it only saw 50 or so attendees since the event fell on a day with nice weather outside. He’s hoping that the cooler fall weather will bring people indoors and to the event.

The library is hoping to make this an annual event to promote local authors and their talent.

The event begins at noon on Saturday and runs until 3:30 p.m. lbarton@postmedia.com twitter.com/LBartonTribune