Edmonton has a large writing community that includes traditionally published, indie and amateur writers, but much of this work is unknown in our community and efforts to promote themselves are often fragmented across various writing groups and initiatives. EPL has a strong presence in the community, but didn’t have a unified approach to supporting local writing. In 2016, EPL held a community consultation to discover how we could bridge that gap.

"Capital City Press" provides a single point of entry, www.epl.ca/capitalcitypress, to information about our local writing community. This includes a quarterly spotlight writer whose work we promote through our collection, weekly blog posts highlighting Edmonton bestseller lists, and programming information about writing events at EPL. Programs have included Indie Author Day in 2016 in partnership with Bibliolabs, author panels, poetry workshops and a festival which included a book fair and presentations by local writers.

EPL is promoting local content through the website, with increased visibility for our Spotlight Writers. Programming by and for local writers is well attended by the public. 300 people attended the Capital City Press Festival over two days this spring to meet local writers, hear them talk and buy their books and the initiative has formed a partnership with Edmonton Journal writer, Paula Simons, to host local writer book clubs throughout the year.