Local artists gathered at the Civic Media Center on Saturday to share their writing.
The Wild Iris, a local feminist bookstore, produced Read Local, an open house for six Gainesville-area authors to meet with readers and read their work aloud.
“(We) really just want to get new readers into the store, let people know we have great, amazing local, authors,” co-owner Erica Merrell said.
The authors each chose a paragraph from their books to read on stage that afternoon.
Rhonda Riley explained the challenge of engaging readers with her novel, “The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope,” in a short amount of time.
“The major thing that I take away from it is trying to quickly tell them about the book and do it in a way that’s engaging and hopefully makes them more interested,” Riley said.
Part of Riley’s book is set in Gainesville. Sandra Lambert, another author, set her novel, “The River’s Memory,” in an area similar to Ocala.
“It’s such a great place to be a writer,” Lambert said of Gainesville.
The authors also got the chance to mingle with fellow writers at the reading.
Donavaun Horne and Shira Glassman, both authors, discussed their writing techniques and cracked jokes before the event.
“I’ve lived in Gainesville for most of my life,” Horne said. “It just has a really nice community feel to it, and I just feel like I really connect to the people here.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 2/23/2015 under the headline “Read Local event brings area authors together, love on GNV"]
Author Jacks McNamara, 34, talks with Dave O’Gorman, 45, at Read Local about McNamara’s book titled “Inbetweenland.”
