Independent Bay Area authors featured in Oxford Exchange book fair

TAMPA, Fla. - Look closely next time you’re at the bookstore. You may be surprised by the number of local, independent authors on the shelves.

Thursday, April 28, is the annual book fair at Oxford Exchange in downtown Tampa, and more than 30 Bay Area authors will be there to talk about their writing and make donations to charity, like the Hillsborough Education Foundation. 

Oxford Exchange Book buyer Laura Taylor says the book fair started eight years ago after she was approached by writers in the community looking for a platform to sell their books. 

The store has limited space, so they decided they would open it up once a year for more authors to showcase their work. 

"Some people don't realize great authors like Margaret Atwood, JK Rowling, Stephen King… all started with self-publishing," Taylor explained. "It's the biggest and hardest step to independent publishers who don't have the backing of a Random House or something like that, for them to get their name out there and their books read."

Everything from fiction to cookbooks to poetry will be on the shelves, starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 28. 

This year, there will be a bonus book fair dedicated to children’s books on June 9.

For more information, visit http://bookstore.oxfordexchange.com/oe-programming/.