A book-signing and author meet and greet event is coming up next Saturday for local author Tara Keating-Jaap. Her book, Birdie's Lullaby, a murder mystery set in Wales, is her first full-length novel.

Keating will be available at CollabArtive Studios with extra copies of her book, and will be available for conversations throughout the afternoon on February 11th from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. 

Krystal Ann Glowatski, one of the owners of the downtown venue, said while they don't do anything formal with local authors, it is one of their favourite types of events to host.

"It's really informal and it's more comfortable and intimate than like when you see book signings on the movies. It's not like that, where you have a crowd of 50 people sitting in the back of a book shop because we're not a book shop, so it's a little bit different, but I think that it's been working and people are really enjoying it."

"What we actually end up doing is kind of setting up a smaller table kind of off to the side, and it becomes really intimate, like there's a nice little table made-up with some candles, and the books are available and you get to come in and actually sit down and have like a one-on-one with the author and get to talk to them about their book and about whatever you want to talk about really," she explained. 

"We've had people come in and talk about all sorts of things. We've also had other authors like Allison Martin and Dustin Bylik come in," she noted. "Each time we have these, it seems like we get more and more people coming through. We get more people interested in learning more about our local talent, local authors, artists, makers."

Glowatski said Saturdays are typically one of their busiest days.

"People really like to get out and shop our local shops here in Weyburn, and there's a lot of really cool things, a lot of really interesting stores. I think we've got a really youthful sort of business sector going on downtown right now, and it's really innovative and invigorating. So I think people are feeling that, and we're getting a lot of people coming in on weekends and just checking the place out, looking for something to do, asking about bookings, that sort of stuff, so I expect there to be a pretty good turn out for Tara's book signing."

She said publicity will be helpful as well, as they do a lot of cross posting with their guests.

"I'm a huge nerd. I personally collect signed books. I, like, live for signed books," she intimated. "So she'll have copies and then she will be able to sell whatever she has and then we will carry her book after that as well, which I think is another really interesting thing about CollabArtive. We don't have a bookstore in Weyburn, and although we're not a bookstore, we offer a bunch of different options of books by local writers and authors. There's a ton of people in this town who've written books that I had no idea, and every day I'm always looking for new people."

Glowatski invites anyone local who has been published to reach out for just such a purpose. 

"Our phone number is 306-891-6567, or you can send us an e-mail to collabartivestudios@gmail.com," she offered. "All of our books that we keep here, we ask for the authors to sign, so that even if you can't make the book signing, you still get a signed copy of the book. The nice thing is that authors don't have to pay for their book to sit here. So, whereas like in a normal store, you pay for shelving, so here it's a commission base, so you only pay for what you sell."

She said refreshments will be available for the book-signing, aside from a variety of goodies always sold there. 

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