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Victoria library’s emerging author series looks to build on 1,073 unique titles

In its 7th year, GVPL program features more than 750 book-makers since inception
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The Greater Victoria Public Library celebrates local authors and illustrators with its 2023 Emerging Local Authors Collection. (Black Press Media file photo)

A local author collection aims to elevate local voices and skills for the seventh year.

The Greater Victoria Public Library celebrates local authors and illustrators with its 2023 Emerging Local Authors Collection.

The collection features self-published, independent and small press books published between 2012 and 2021 by south Island authors and illustrators.

The program aims to celebrate the region’s rich writing culture and has showcased 1,073 unique titles and more than 750 authors ranging in age from six to beyond 90.

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The 2019 collection featured The Raven and The Otter by local Indigenous author Leon McFadden. He self-published two Indigenous colouring books aimed at children after finding out he was going to be a father. The books feature hand-drawn illustrations and share cultural stories.

In its second year in 2016, the collection included the work of Isla Shaykewich, then eight, who wrote and illustrated Runaway Mittens.

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Each year, the GVPL invites authors to apply to take part in its Emerging Local Authors Collection. To be eligible to participate, authors or illustrators must live on southern Vancouver Island or resided there when the book was published.

Print books in the Emerging Local Authors Collection are on display at the Central Branch in the rotunda for one year, where readers can browse the titles and place them on hold to pick up at their most convenient branch. The ebooks are showcased online through BiblioBoard, with unlimited borrowing.

The deadline to apply for the 2023 collection is Jan. 31. For questions email emerging@gvpl.ca.

The collection launches this spring.

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