Read Local BC celebrates West Coast writers

British Columbians often hear about the merits of eating local, but the province's literati are teaming up this month to promote reading local as well.

Read Local BC, organized by theAssociation of Book Publishers of BC, is a campaign that celebrates publishers, authors, bookstores and libraries from across the province.

As Vancouver's former poet laureate, author Evelyn Lau has actively promoted the B.C. writing community by mentoring young local writers and will be taking part in the program of events.

"I know what it's like to be so hungry for feedback from a published writer," she told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

"Any published writer you saw on the street, on the bus, at a reading you just wanted to buttonhole them and hand them your manuscript.

"So I wanted to provide a more structured environment, where people weren't coming up to you at restaurants or a bus stop and giving you a sheaf of poems but actually being able to sit down with you and have some dedicated time and attention paid to their work and [receive] some sort of direction."

Lau is one of 300 writers who will take part in Read Local BC. She will join five other poets at Vancouver's Artspeak Gallery on April 15 to discuss the evolving representation of urban and rural spaces in Canadian art.

Read Local BC runs from April. 1 to 22.