Santa Barbara Public Library Local Author Festival

Santa Barbara Public Library Local Author Festival

Celebrate Santa Barbara's literary talent! Santa Barbara Public Library invites readers, book lovers, and anyone looking for holiday shopping ideas to our annual Local Author Festival at the new Michael Towbes Library Plaza on Sunday, December 8, from 2 - 4 PM.

Since 2017, SBPL has hosted an annual program for local authors with the aspiration of building a community of writers, supporting authors cultivating the art of their craft, and helping them navigate the publishing world. Previous program panelists include, authors Elizabeth Hunter, Ellen O'Connell Whittet, Aaron Shulman, Rebecca Villareal, Jervey Tervalon, Laure-Anne Bosselaar; as well as publishers and editors, Angela Borda and Marcia Meier, among many others. Local Author Day concluded with a local author book sale-a wonderful opportunity to meet authors and support their work. Participants from previous Local Author Day programs submitted their books to the Santa Barbara Public Library's Local Author Collection where they are available for checkout.

This year's Local Author Festival theme is Books Make Great Gifts, Shop Local! 40 local authors will be selling and signing books and available for networking and answering questions. Authors will also have the opportunity to read excerpts from their work in a "book karaoke" format.

Featured author/book categories include:

• Children's Books
• Young Adult
• Adult Fiction
• Adult Nonfiction
• Poetry
• Local Publishers

The Library will host a crafting table for kids and families, and the Friends of the Santa Barbara Public Library will be on hand to provide free gift wrapping for books purchased.