The6th Annual
OHIOANA BOOK FESTIVAL:
Celebrating Ohio’s Authors
Saturday, May 12th
Live music, food carts, exhibits, fun-loving crowds and….books—lots and lots of books! The Ohioana Library’s goal, as it prepares to present the 6th annual Ohioana Book Festival, is creating a Festival that brings readers, writers and books together for an inspiring, fun learning experience.
Nearly 100 authors, including 10 who are designated as “featured,” will be at the Festival with new books they have published within the past 16 months. The main event will be held on Saturday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center, 546 Jack Gibbs Blvd., near downtown Columbus and the Short North. This event is free and open to the public with no tickets or advance registration required.
“We are proud to announce the 10 outstanding and diverse writers who have been selected as the featured authors for the 2012 Ohioana Book Festival. These authors are all stars in their chosen literary fields,” said Executive Director Linda Hengst.
During the week prior to the Festival, the 10 featured authors, along with many other selected festival authors, will take part in more than 15 outreach programs in the Columbus area and around the state. A number of programs will be held in public venues while others will be provided for specific populations such as schools and classrooms.
Featured Authors
Tom Batiuk
Jeni Britton Bauer
Cinda Williams Chima
Casey Daniels
Nancy Petro
Donald Ray Pollock
Emilie Richards
Les Roberts
Michael J. Rosen
Robin Yocum
Festival Programs
Activities during the May 12th Festival will include more than 20 panel discussions on a variety of topics. The 10 featured authors will appear in a track of five panels, including conversations about their own literary influences, the writing life and the creative process. Additional panel dialogue will explore children’s literature and poetry, along with several “behind-the-scenes” opportunities for new writers to find out more about how to get published. Author roundtables will be devoted to popular genres such as mystery, romance and science fiction.
“Each year, we offer at least one panel on the ‘how-to’s’ of the publishing business and the room is filled to capacity,” said Hengst. “Many people who come to the festival are aspiring writers who are trying to get their work published. This year we’ll have more opportunities for those writers to meet people from inside the publishing industry, as well as talk to authors who will share their own experiences of breaking in to the business.”
In celebration of the 200th birthday of Columbus, there will be a special track of panels about the city, including The Ohio State University, the Lazarus Store and historically haunted places. One panel, “Lit, Lives, and Landmarks,” will introduce a new Ohioana program “Ohioana Library On the Road,” highlighting tours that will begin in June. The Columbus tours will visit sites connected to noted authors such as O. Henry.
“We are excited to have so many nationally recognized authors participating in our sixth festival. They are all Ohioans by birth or residents with books that have been published in the past year,” Hengst said. “They represent every major literary field and genre – fiction (mystery, romance, fantasy, science fiction, and literary fiction), nonfiction (memoirs, history, essays, and cook books), poetry and books for children and young adults.”
Click here to see all of our Festival Authors
Additional festival activities will include a children’s room with programs designed to entertain young readers. The line-up for youth was created and is managed by the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science students and faculty, along with local librarians.
Food will be provided by popular Columbus food carts and local musicians will entertain during the lunch break. The most recent books published by the Festival authors will be available at the on-site Barnes and Noble Bookstore.
For photos and interviews, contact Linda Hengst at the Ohioana Library. Detailed Festival information can be found at www.OhioanaBookFestival.org .
The Festival is presented by the Ohioana Library Association with major funding provided by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, State Library of Ohio, the Reinberger Foundation, the Ohio Humanities Council, the Ohio Arts Council, and Honda of America Mfg., Inc. The children’s space and activities are sponsored by Huntington Bank, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Margaret Wong & Associates. Our media sponsors are WCBE, Ohio Magazine, and PDG Communications. Along with the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science, twenty-one local and statewide partners and contributors are helping to make the Festival program possible including the Toledo Public Library, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio Center for the Book, Cleveland Public Library, VOICECorps, and numerous local organizations. The full list can be found on the Ohioana Book Festival website: http://www.ohioanabookfestival.org/sponsors/.
Ohio’s libraries are the best in the country. With great collections and high circulation rates, is it any wonder that Ohio is the home of some of the country’s best writers?
Ohioana’s mission is to: recognize and encourage the creative accomplishments of Ohioans, preserve and expand a permanent archive of books, manuscripts, and other materials by Ohioans and about Ohio, and disseminate information about the work of Ohio writers, musicians, and other artists to researchers, schools, and the general public. Ohioana is a 501-C-(3) not for profit organization supported by memberships, subscription, gifts, grants, and a subsidy from the State of Ohio.
