Experience Alberta's largest celebration of arts, culture, heritage, diversity and community spirit through events across the province!
Experience Alberta's largest celebration of arts, culture, heritage, diversity and community spirit through events across the province!
Alberta Culture Days at Red Deer Public Library
Featured Events
Local Author Fair
Downtown Branch
Sunday, September 22, 2024 | 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Step into the world of literary creativity at our Local Author Fair, where local authors will showcase and sell their works, and connect with readers like you! Whether you're searching for a new favourite author or eager to support local talent, this event offers a unique opportunity to meet the minds behind the books. Featured authors will be set up throughout the library, so you can chat and explore at your leisure throughout the day. Scroll on to meet the authors!
Featured Authors
Ellen Anderson Penno
Ellen Anderson Brenna Bailey
Brenna Bailey writes queer contemporary romance and owns an editing business called Bookmarten Editorial. If her nose isn't buried in a book, you can probably find her out in the woods somewhere admiring plants or attempting to identify birds. She is a starry-eyed traveler and a home baker, and she lives in Alberta, Canada, with her game-loving spouse and their cuddly fur-baby.Gillian A. Corsiatto
Lori Feldberg / Raine Hughes
Lori Feldberg
Under her Lori Feldberg name, Feldberg, from Central Alberta, enjoys writing in animal narrative, meaning the animals themselves tell the stories. She started out with a children's book duo on the adventures of a gang of dogs who get together when they get off their sailing vessels. Her latest series (YA/Adult), feature a throw away dog, while the other is a stray cat. They hook up with lady private investigators, then they tell the story so you get the humor from the animals' points of view. Her farm humor series is popular with bigger print; being a farm gal who lived and worked on farms here and abroad, definitely helped in the writing. Feldberg has no idea what possessed her to write the unique and strange medical history of all those 'fakes' you get on your head as you get older; she coupled it with trivia and real life misadventures from people close at hand.
Under her Raine Hughes name, Hughes writes romance, sweet paranormal/fantasy, and contemporary mostly, beginning with the genie romances in the Mystery Lake Novel series (4 books + a companion book setting out the Mystery of the Djinni-of-the-Lake). A Lil' Bit O' Train Romance is a collection of sweet romances based on the familiar central Alberta Stettler tourist train, a fun ride she's taken many times. There are now three books in the Sweet Fairy Tale Romance series. Ideas just pop into Hughes' head, waiting to be made into a book. She has Christmas books, too, and has appeared in several anthologies with other authors.Mary Margaret
Being a full time single mom, full time educator, and a full time smart a$$ didn’t leave 
Then in 2020, the world shut down, and she was laid off from her job. And upon reaching her 35th birthday and the end of her third novel, she wondered what she was even doing with her life and why would she continue putting fingers to keys with no real end result. So after deciding 35 was far too old to wait for the traditional route of queries and rejections, she self-published her first two books in the summer of 2020, Time After Time: Backward, and Time After Time: Forward. The following summer the third book in the series, Time After Time: Frozen was released.Shelley Rose May
Shelley Rose May is a self-taught mixed media artist of Cree Metis Scottish descent from Montreal Lake Cree Nation with roots in Fish Lake Metis Settlement. She grew up in a small village called Christopher Lake and moved to Calgary with her family at the age of 13. After living in Calgary for over 30 years, Shelley moved to Rocky Mountain House with her family in 2023.Vonda Peterson
Jessica Renwick
Jessica Renwick dove into the world of writing fiction as a preteen and never looked back. Naturally, this led to a career as a library assistant, and her first middle-grade book, The Book of Chaos, was published in 2018.
She lives with her partner, two dogs, and a flock of backyard chickens in Red Deer, Alberta. You can find her online at Carly Robinson
Carly Robinson has called Red Deer home for the majority of her life. She lives with her husband Brad and their two daughters, Chloe and Ellie and their rescue dogs, Abby, Chester and Millie. She is an elementary school teacher as well as a fitness instructor.
Carly has a passion for inspiring people through movement, rescuing dogs, gardening and writing. Children are also near and dear to Carly's heart. She knows that self-confidence and self acceptance is a struggle for many students each day, and she wrote You Are Simply Enough for anyone who needs help navigating moments of self-doubt and insecurity. She is grateful for this opportunity.Cornelius van Dijk
Ivan van Dijk was born in Edson, Alberta, just three minutes before his twin brother. Their older sister, already a year and a half old, was waiting at home, and at three, their adopted brother—also three—joined the family. Later, a younger brother was born, bringing the family to seven members.
Ivan has traveled extensively, exploring Europe by train, spending months in Greenland with YWAM, and traveling to Alaska and the Baja Peninsula. He currently lives in Lacombe with his wife, and together they have three children. His book, Echoes of the Red Earth, offers stories designed to entertain, surprise, and provoke thought.Catherine Witzaney
Catherine Witzaney spent much of her childhood immersed in Middle Earth, Narnia, and Tortall. At the age of seven, she discovered the magic of creating her own worlds through the written word, and has been writing stories ever since.More to Explore
More Events and Exhibits
Celebrating Alberta Culture Days in Red Deer
Kiwanis Gallery
Read Alberta Collection
Alberta Culture Days: Get Artsy!
Spotlight on Alberta Authors & Musicians
We are grateful to the Government of Alberta for providing RDPL with an Alberta Culture Days Host Celebration Site grant, which will be used to fund our four main events: the Local Author Fair, Lindy Hop Dance Workshop, Writing Workshop with Leslie Greentree, and Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea Party. Thank you for your support!
