Book sale to host local authors during Sterlingfest

STERLING HEIGHTS — The Sterlingfest Art and Music Fair will not only offer art on canvas for people to buy, but literary art will be sold nearby as well.

On July 30, the Sterling Heights Public Library will be the site of this year’s Sterling Heights Local Author Book Sale.

The event is set to host more than 70 Michigan authors, including independently published ones. According to organizers, attendees can meet authors, buy books and get them signed.

The authors will gather beneath the library’s outdoor covered path, which extends toward the Police Department.

Library public relations and programs coordinator Amanda Itria said the cancellation of Sterlingfest over the last two years made it impossible to run the book fair as usual. But she said the library has found many writers who are excited to finally have an opportunity to showcase their work again.

“We have a very active writers community that participates in a monthly Creative Writers’ Workshop,” she said. “This allows us to sort of give them a way to have outlets for their writing and their work and participate on a larger scale.”

Itria said she hasn’t worked long enough at the library to personally witness the book sale and its atmosphere. But she said author participation was opened to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis.

“It filled up in about four hours,” she added.

For Tara Eldana, a Sterling Heights romance author, this will be the second time she plans to participate in the book fair, and she added that she knows many of the participating authors.

She said she looks forward to meeting new readers, as well as “getting outdoors with people who like books and read them and write them and like to talk about them.”

“It’s really exciting to be able to get back out at literary events like this and at Sterlingfest, which is a lot of fun,” Eldana said.

In a statement, volunteer event coordinator Terry Hojnacki, who has coordinated the book sale since 2015, said it’s all about uniting readers and writers.

“It’s an opportunity for authors to share their work with the community, and readers get to talk one-on-one with book creators,” she said. “This is what libraries are meant to do: build community between authors and readers.”

The 2022 Sterling Heights Local Author Book Sale will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. July 30 outside the Sterling Heights Public Library, 40255 Dodge Park Road in Sterling Heights. For a list of scheduled book sale authors, visit www.sterling-heights.net/1493/Local-Author-Book-Sale.

Learn more about the library by visiting www.shpl.net or by calling (586) 446-2665. For more information about the July 28-30 Sterlingfest Art & Music Fair, visit www.sterlingfest.info.