90 YEARS . . . 90 BOOKS: The 1990s
by | posted in: authors, Awards, Collection Highlights, History, reading | 0

It’s been great hearing from many readers who tell us they’ve really been enjoying our special year-end blog, 90 Years . . . 90 Books, in which we’re taking a look at books by 90 Ohio authors that have been published since Ohioana was founded in 1929.

So, since the magic number is 90 – our third entry will focus on the 1990s. The last decade of the 20th century saw a number of debuts by authors who are as popular today as they were when they first arrived on the scene. Some of the fifteen books we’re shining the spotlight on might be favorites of yours. Others you may be discovering for the first time.

Whatever the case may be, we hope you enjoy learning about them all, and that our blog may continue to add to your list of books to read over the holidays and in the coming year!

The People I Know, Nancy Zafris, 1990

Our last 90 books list ended with a collection of stories and our new one begins with another. Nancy Zafris’ The People I Know, a collection of nine stories told by characters who hover at the edge of life, won not only the Ohioana Book Award, but also the prestigious Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. A native of Columbus, Zafris is the author of three other books and serves as the series editor for the O’Connor Award. She was previously fiction editor of the Kenyon Review, for whom she now serves as a teacher and associate director of the summer writer’s workshop.

Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky, Thylias Moss, 1991

A poet, author, experimental filmmaker, and playwright of African American, Native American, and European heritage, Cleveland-born Thylias Moss began to write when she was seven years old. Her fourth collection of poetry, Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky, won the Ohioana Poetry Book Award, the Whiting Award, and the Witter Byner Poetry Prize. Moss’ other honors include the Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships. A graduate of Oberlin and the University of New Hampshire, Moss lives in Ann Arbor and has taught at the University of Michigan since 1993.

Parliament of Whores, P.J. O’Rourke, 1991

Known for his frequent appearances as a panelist on NPR’s popular game show Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me, Toledo’s Patrick Jake O’Rourke has also been a journalist and contributor to publications as diverse as Rolling Stone and The Atlantic Monthly. But he is best-known as one of America’s foremost political satirists, thanks to books like Parliament of Whores, subtitled “A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government,” which was an international best-seller and praised by Time magazine as “a riotously funny and perceptive indictment of America’s political system.”

Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps #1), R.L. Stine, 1992

In 2011, Robert Lawrence Stine received a singular honor when the Guinness Book of World Records named him “the world’s most prolific author of children’s horror fiction novels” with more than 300 books to his credit. While Stine has written several series over his long career, none has been more popular than Goosebumps, and it all started with this novel in 1992. Among Stine’s many other awards is the 2000 Ohioana Career Medal. He said his writing all stems from one goal: “to give kids the creeps.” No one can deny that he has succeeded. A Bexley native, Stine now lives in New York City.

Missing May, Cynthia Rylant, 1992

Cynthia Rylant’s Missing May, a touching book for young adults about grief, won the 1993 Newbery Medal. That same year, Rylant, who had previously won two Ohioana Book Awards in juvenile literature, received Ohioana’s Alice Louise Wood Memorial Award for her body of work. Born in West Virginia, Rylant received her MA from Marshall University and her MLIS from Kent State University. She lived in Kent and later Akron for many years, working as a librarian and a teacher. Rylant, who has more than 100 books to her credit, now lives in Oregon. 

Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech, 1994

Children’s author Sharon Creech was born and raised in the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid. Growing up, she often visited her cousins in a small town in Kentucky, which would later find its way into a number of her books. Creech lived and taught abroad for 18 years, and her first books were published in England. Her first US book, Walk Two Moons, won the 1995 Newbery Medal. Seven years later, Creech’s Ruby Holler won Britain’s Carnegie Medal, making her the first American recipient, and the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie. She now lives in New Jersey.

Getting Rid of Bradley, Jennifer Cruise, 1994

Jennifer Smith of Wapakoneta took her grandmother’s maiden last name on her way to becoming one of America’s most popular authors of romantic fiction. Her first career was as a teacher, and it was only when she was working on her MFA dissertation – about the role of women in mystery fiction – that she decided to try her hand at romance writing. Her third novel, Getting Rid of Bradley, won the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award, the genre’s equivalent of the Oscar. Crusie, who lives in New Jersey, has seen more than 20 of her novels published in 20 countries.

Tears of a Tiger, Sharon Draper, 1994

Sharon M. Draper is a professional educator as well as an accomplished children’s writer. She has been honored as the National Teacher of the Year and is a New York Times best-selling author. She’s won five Coretta Scott King Literary Awards, including for 1994’s Tears of a Tiger. Draper began writing when challenged by one of her 9th grade students to enter a story in a competition. She won the $5,000 first prize. When the story was published, she got a note of congratulations and encouragement from Roots author Alex Haley. Born in Cleveland, Draper has lived in Cincinnati for many years.

Out from Boneville, Jeff Smith, 1995

Growing up in Columbus, Jeff Smith loved cartoons – the Peanuts and Pogo comic strips, and the animated adventures of Scrooge McDuck. Smith’s own first cartoon series, Thorn, was created for the student newspaper, The Lantern, while he was a student at The Ohio State University. In 1991 came Bone, a series that mixed light-hearted comedy with dark fantasy. It became a sensation, winning Smith ten Eisner Awards over the course of its 13-year run. 1995’s Out from Boneville was the first anthology. In October 2019, Netflix announced that a Bone animated series is in the works.

Coyote v. Acme, Ian Frazier, 1996

In 1997, the Thurber Prize for American Humor was established. The inaugural winner: Coyote v. Acme, a collection of essays by Cleveland’s Ian Frazier, the first of which imagined the opening statement of an attorney representing cartoon character Wile E. Coyote in a product liability suit against the Acme Company, supplier of unpredictable rocket sleds and faulty spring-powered shoes. Best-known as a writer and humorist for The New Yorker, Frazier became the only two-time (thus far) winner of the Thurber Prize in 2007 for Lamentations of the Father.

The Devil’s Hatband, Robert Greer, 1996

Robert Greer is truly a Renaissance man – doctor and professor of pathology, cattle rancher, and writer. Born in Columbus, Greer holds degrees from Miami, Howard, and Boston Universities. For the past 40 years, he has lived and worked in Denver, Colorado, the setting for his popular contemporary western mystery series featuring black bail bondsman CJ Floyd, which started in 1996 with The Devil’s Hatband. Besides the series, Greer has written several standalone novels and a story collection. He is also editor-in-chief of the High Plains Literary Review, which he founded in 1986.

Broken Symmetry, David Citino, 1997

Few people were as passionately involved in Ohio’s literary life as David Citino. A Cleveland native, Citino spent the last three decades of his life teaching English and creative writing at The Ohio State University, which in 2002 named him as its first Poet Laureate. His many other honors included the inaugural Ohioana Helen and Laura Krout Poetry Prize for his contributions to the field and two Ohioana Book Awards. The second was for Broken Symmetry, in which “a poet approaching the end of the 20th century takes stock of a single life.” Citino died in 2005 due to complications from MS.

Among the Hidden (Shadow Children #1), Margaret Peterson Haddix, 1998

Margaret Peterson Haddix grew up on a farm in Washington Court House. After receiving degrees from Miami University, she worked as a newspaper reporter in Indiana and Illinois. When she married her husband, who was also her editor, she decided that instead of being his employee, she would turn to writing fiction. The result was one of the most successful careers of any children’s author of the past 25 years. Her best-known works include the Shadow Children series, of which Among the Hidden was the first novel. Haddix won the 2009 Ohioana Book Award in juvenile literature for Uprising, a historical novel based on 1911’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The Truth About Small Towns, David Baker, 1998

Originally from Maine, David Baker has lived in Granville, Ohio since 1984, where he holds Denison University’s Thomas B. Fordham Chair in Creative Writing. The Poetry Editor for the esteemed Kenyon Review, Baker is also the author of twelve books of poetry, including 1998’s Ohioana Award-winning The Truth About Small Towns. His many awards include grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Mellon Foundation. Baker’s most recent book is 2019’s Swift: New and Selected Poems.

The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean, 1998

It’s not every day you are portrayed on screen by the likes of Meryl Streep. But Cleveland’s Susan Orlean was, when in 2002 Hollywood adapted her nonfiction book The Orchid Thief into a film called, appropriately enough, Adaptation. A journalist and staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992, Orlean has also contributed to many other leading magazines. She won a 2012 Ohioana Book Award for Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend. Her 2018 The Library Book was named by a number of publications, including the Washington Post, as one of the ten best of the year.

90 YEARS . . . 90 BOOKS: The Middle 30 Years, 1959-1989
by | posted in: authors, Awards, Collection Highlights, History, readiing, Remembering | 0

Thanks to everyone who responded so enthusiastically to our first 90 Years, 90 Books blog!

So here we are, with the second entry in our list of 90 books by 90 Ohio authors that have been published since Ohioana was founded in 1929. As with our first list, some of these books and their authors may be unfamiliar, while others may be among your favorites.

This week’s blog will shine the spotlight on twenty books, all of them published during our middle three decades, from 1959 to 1989.

We hope you enjoy the series, and that it might add to your list of books to read over the holidays and in the coming year!

The Branch Will Not Break, James Wright – 1963

James Wright rose from an unhappy childhood in Martins Ferry, Ohio, to become one of the seminal poets of his generation, a Pulitzer Prize winner who was admired by critics and fellow poets alike. The Branch Will Not Break, published in 1963, is generally considered to be his finest work. A poetry festival in Martins Ferry celebrates his legacy and in 2018, Jonathan Blunk’s authorized biography, James Wright: A Life in Poetry, was an Ohioana Award finalist.

A Thousand Days, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. – 1965

In the aftermath of his tragic assassination, President John F. Kennedy was the subject of dozens of biographies. None was more acclaimed than Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.’s Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, drawn from the author’s personal experiences as a close friend and confidante of JFK. A native of Columbus, and the son of an Ohioana Award-winning historian, Schlesinger himself won two Ohioana Book Awards, and in 1992 received the library’s highest honor, the Career Medal.

Hanger Stout, Awake!, Jack Matthews – 1967

A 2006 Ohioana Career medalist, Jack Matthews was born in Columbus and graduated from The Ohio State University. Matthews wrote novels, short stories, plays, and essays over a career lasting more than 50 years. He made his home in Athens, where he spent four decades as a professor of creative writing and drama at Ohio University. Matthews’ 1967 Ohioana Award-winning Hanger Stout, Awake! put him on the American literary map. In 2018, the coming-of-age novella was re-released for the first time as an e-book, introducing Matthews to new audiences.

The Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny – 1967

Best known for his 10-part series, The Chronicles of Amber, poet and fantasy/science fiction writer Roger Zelazny was a native of Euclid and a graduate of Case Western and Columbia Universities. He worked for seven years for the Social Security Administration while at night churning out novels and short stories. In 1969, he quit his job to write full-time, and went on to become one of the most prolific and popular authors of sci fi/fantasy of his era. Zelazny received six Hugo Awards (out of 14 nominations) during his career, including one for his 1967 novel, The Lord of Light.

The Frontiersmen, Allan W. Eckert – 1968

A historical novelist and naturalist, Allan W. Eckert was a native New Yorker who moved to Ohio to attend college near Bellefontaine. He would remain there for many years, turning his love of Ohio’s early history into fiction for both adults and children, including his 1967 Ohioana Award-winning book, The Frontiersmen. Eckert was also an Emmy Award-winning writer for television’s Wild Kingdom, but undoubtedly his best-known work is the outdoor drama Tecumseh. Nearly 4-million people have seen the drama since it premiered at Chillicothe’s Sugar Loaf Mountain Amphitheater in 1972.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Harlan Ellison – 1968

Cleveland’s Harlan Ellison was as well-known for his outspoken, combative, personality as he was for his prolific writing, which encompassed more than 1,700 published works in the fantasy/sci fi genre. He was expelled from The Ohio State University in 1953 after hitting a professor who had denigrated his writing ability. For the next 20 years, Ellison would send the professor a copy of every story that he published. One of those stories was 1968’s Hugo Award-winning I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, which was also the title of a collection released that same year of Ellison’s best short fiction.

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison – 1970

Probably no one guessed, when 39-year old Toni Morrison’s debut novel, The Bluest Eye (a story set in her hometown of Lorain, Ohio) was published, that it marked the beginning of one of the greatest literary careers in American history. When she died this past August, tributes poured in from around the globe. Morrison, whose first writing prize was the 1975 Ohioana Book Award (for her second novel, Sula), would go on to receive the world’s highest recognition for an author – the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Her most celebrated work, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Beloved, was named by critics in 2012 as the greatest novel of the last quarter of the 20th century. But The Bluest Eye, which marks its 50th anniversary in 2020, is the book that started it all.

Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own, Erma Bombeck – 1971

Bellbrook native Erma Bombeck had an unusual gift: being able to translate the normal routines of a suburban housewife and mother into comic fodder. Her popular column, “At Wit’s End,” first appeared in 1965 in the “Dayton Daily News.” Within a few years, it was reaching 30-million people in 900 newspapers in the US and Canada. Bombeck was a national celebrity, even appearing on the cover of Time magazine. Her 15 books include 1971’s Ohioana Award-winning Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own. Bombeck kept writing until her death in 1996. Her legacy lives on via a bi-annual workshop for writers at the University of Dayton, which holds all of Bombeck’s papers.

The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems, Mary Oliver – 1972

Mary Oliver was born and grew up in Maple Heights, a semi-rural suburb of Cleveland. From childhood, she loved to go for long walks in the country. Nature would inspire Oliver’s poetry, which she began writing at the age of 14. Her first collection was published in 1963. Nine years later, The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems won her the first of her two Ohioana Poetry Book Awards in a career that would see her also receive a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. In 2007, the New York Times said that Oliver was “far and away, this country’s best-selling poet.” Oliver, whose writings spanned more than 50 years, died in Florida in 2019 at the age of 83.

M.C. Higgins, the Great, Virginia Hamilton – 1974

No writer of books for African American children has been more loved, or been more influential, as Virginia Hamilton. Named for the state from which her maternal grandfather escaped from slavery via the Underground Railroad, Hamilton was born and raised in Yellow Springs. His stories moved her to begin writing her own. Zeely, the first of her more than 40 books, was published in 1967. In 1975, she became the first black author to win the Newbery Medal, for M.C. Higgins, the Great. It also won the National Book Award, making Hamilton the first author to receive both prizes for the same title. In 2010, eight years after Hamilton’s death at age 65, the American Library Association created the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award, “to recognize an African American author, illustrator, or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.”

The Warriors (American Bicentennial Series), John Jakes – 1974-79

John Jakes’ Ohioana Award-winning series (also known as “The Kent Family Chronicles”) was created to wrap around the 200th anniversary of America’s independence in 1976. Born in Chicago in 1932, Jakes came to Columbus in 1954 to pursue his M.A. in literature at The Ohio State University. He later spent ten years in Dayton, working by day in an advertising agency while writing at night. Called “The Godfather of Historical Novelists,” many of his works have been made into films or television mini-series, including the popular North and South trilogy. A long-time resident of Florida, Jakes returned to Columbus in 2003 to receive the Ohioana Pegasus Award for his lifetime achievement as a writer.

The Liberation of Tansy Warner, Stephanie S. Tolan – 1980

Canton native Stephanie S. Tolan said she knew from the age of nine, when she wrote her first story in the 4th grade, that she would become a writer when she grew up. A graduate of Purdue University, Tolan has authored more than 25 books for young readers. The Liberation of Tansy Warner, her third book, won Tolan the 1981 Ohioana Award in juvenile literature. Her best-known book, Surviving the Applewhites, received a Newbery Honor in 2003, and was chosen by the State Library of Ohio and Ohioana as a 2013-14 Choose to Read Ohio title. Tolan has lived in North Carolina since 1999.

Dale Loves Sophie to Death, Robb Forman Dew – 1981

Although she grew up in Louisiana, where her father was a doctor, Robb Forman Dew was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio. She spent much of her childhood in Gambier, where her grandfather, John Crowe Ransom, was the first editor of the widely regarded Kenyon Review. Surrounded by poets and writers, Dew became one herself. Her debut, Dale Loves Sophie to Death, won the 1981 National Book Award as “Best First Novel.” Dew, who’s written both fiction and nonfiction, lives in Massachusetts where her husband is a professor of history at Williams College. Kenyon College awarded Dew an honorary degree in 2007.

. . . And Ladies of the Club, Helen Hooven Santmyer – 1982

A writer, teacher, and librarian, Helen Hooven Santmyer was also very active in the literary scene of her adopted hometown of Xenia. She was chair of the Ohioana Library’s Greene County Committee. In her seventies, after retiring she wrote … And Ladies of the Club, the story of four generations of women who belong to a literary club in a small Ohio town. The novel won the 1982 Ohioana Award in fiction, but sold only a few hundred copies. A year later, after it was picked up by a major publisher and selected as a national Book-of-the-Month Club title, it took off, selling more than 2-million copies. An “overnight star” at the age of 88, Helen was asked how she would handle the book’s huge commercial success. “I have no plans for the money,” she said, “but it’ll be awfully nice to have it.”

American Splendor, Harvey Pekar – 1986

Often called “a true American original” and “the blue-collar Mark Twain,” Cleveland’s Harvey Pekar – comic book writer, music critic, and media personality – helped to “change the appreciation for, and the perception of” the graphic novel through his autobiographical series, American Splendor. “Autobiography written as it happens” is how Pekar described it. American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar in 1986 was the first anthology of the series, and served as the basis for the Academy Award-nominated 2003 film, starring Paul Giamatti as Pekar and Hope Davis as Pekar’s wife, political comic writer Joyce Brabner.

Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove – 1986

Rita Dove was only 40 years old when she was named in 1993 as the U.S. Poet Laureate – not only the youngest poet ever named to the position, but the first who was African American. The Akron native has been praised for the lyricism and beauty of her poetry, as well as its sense of history and political scope. Her verse novel Thomas and Beulah, the semi-fictionalized story of her maternal grandparents, won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize. Dove has received four Ohioana Poetry Book Awards, more than any other Ohio poet in the history of the awards.

Pepper Pike, Les Roberts – 1988

Chicagoan Les Roberts spent 24 years as a writer and producer in Hollywood, where his credits included being the first producer and head writer of television’s popular Hollywood Squares game show. It was that talent the brought Roberts to Cleveland, Ohio, when he was hired to create the weekly show for the Ohio Lottery. He decided to stay and turned to a new career as a mystery novelist. In 1988’s Pepper Pike readers met Roberts’ creation – Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich. The book was a hit, and spawned a series that remains popular today, and has influenced other writers to create mystery novels set in their cities.

Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold – 1988

The daughter of an engineer and pioneer TV meteorologist to whom she credited her early interest in science fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold was born in Columbus and attended The Ohio State University. It wasn’t until she was in her thirties that she pursued writing as a career. Falling Free, part of the Vorkosigan Saga, won her the first of her three Nebula Awards. Her many other awards include a record-tying four Hugos for Best Novel, three Locus Awards, the Minnesota Book Award (she now lives in Minneapolis) and the 2006 Ohioana Career Medal. Bujold, considered one of the greatest writers in her genre, has seen her works translated into nearly 20 languages worldwide.

A Great Deliverance, Elizabeth George – 1988

Elizabeth George, born in Warren, Ohio, in 1949, is the New York Times and internationally best-selling author of twenty British crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley. The character was first introduced in 1988’s A Great Deliverance, which won George the Agatha Award as Best First Novel, as well as the Ohioana Book Award in fiction. George’s novels inspired an Inspector Lynley television series on the BBC in England. George is a popular speaker and instructor at workshops and conferences around the globe, and is the author of the creative writing book, Write Away.

Dreams of Distant Lives, Lee K. Abbott – 1989

Lee K. Abbott was born in the Panama Canal Zone, the son of an Army colonel who eventually settled the family in Las Cruzes, New Mexico. The southwest and desert often played a prominent role in Abbott’s writing. After receiving his BA and MA degrees at New Mexico State University, Abbott began a teaching career that would ultimately bring him to Ohio, including Case Western and The Ohio State University, where he would inspire and influence many young writers. Abbott’s first story collection appeared in 1980, and 1989’s Dreams of Distant Lives would win him the Ohioana Book Award. Hailed as one of the masters of short fiction, Abbott died in Columbus in 2019 at the age of 71.

90 YEARS . . . 90 BOOKS: The First 30 Years, 1929-1959
by | posted in: authors, Awards, Collection Highlights, History, reading, Remembering | 0

Each year for the past six years, we’ve done a series called 30 Days, 30 Books, in which we will feature one Ohioana Book Award finalist a day. It has become very popular with readers, who tell us how much they look forward to it every spring.

So, to put a fitting epilogue to Ohioana’s 90th anniversary, we decided to expand on that idea: to select 90 books by Ohio authors that have been published since 1929 and put the spotlight on each one. Some of these books and their authors may be unfamiliar. Others may be among your favorites.

We won’t do a book a day, but rather present a number of books in a group by decades. Our first post will cover fifteen books, all of them published during our first three decades, from 1929 to 1959.

We hope you enjoy the series, and that it might add to your list of books to read over the holidays and in the coming year!

The Secret of the Old Clock, Carolyn Keene (Mildred Wirt Benson) – 1930

In April 1930, a new literary character appeared on the scene when 16-year old amateur sleuth Nancy Drew made her debut in The Secret of the Old Clock. The writer – “Carolyn Keene” was a pseudonym for the actual writer, Toledo’s Mildred Wirt Benson, who was only 24 years old herself. “Millie” Benson would go on to write 22 more Nancy Drew books in the iconic series, and many other works in a career that lasted until she died at the age of 96 in 2002.

West of the Pecos, Zane Grey – 1931

Named for the Ohio city where he born (which was founded by his maternal grandfather), Zane Grey’s novels included 1912’s Riders of the Purple Sage, considered the greatest western of all time. Originally a dentist, Grey gave his practice up to concentrate on writing, and went on to produce more than 90 books, all westerns, including 1931’s West of the Pecos.

Beyond Desire, Sherwood Anderson – 1932

Camden, Ohio’s most famous son is best known for his hugely popular collection of short stories entitled Winesburg, Ohio (many say the fictional town actually IS Camden). But he did more than just short fiction – Anderson also wrote poems, plays, nonfiction, and novels, including 1932’s Beyond Desire. The Ohioana Library has a number of original letters from Anderson that are a treasured part of our collection.

Collected Poems, Hart Crane – 1933

One of the most significant American poets of the 20th century, Hart Crane, born in the small town of Garrettsville, Ohio, was also a tortured and tragic figure. In April 1932, at the age of 32, Crane took his own life when he leaped from the deck of the steamship Orizaba into the Gulf of Mexico. His body was never found. A year later, Collected Poems was published. In the decades following his death, writers ranging from poet e.e. Cummings to playwright Tennessee Williams cited Crane as a major influence.

Imitation of Life, Fannie Hurst – 1933

In post-World War I, there was no more popular female author than Hamilton’s Fannie Hurst. During the 1920s, she was the highest-paid female author in the world. Hurst was an ardent supporter of many liberal causes, including feminism and African American equality. Her novels combined sentimental, romantic themes with social issues of the day, such as women’s rights and race relations. One of the most popular (and daring for its time) was 1933’s Imitation of Life, about the friendship between two women – one white and one black – as they struggle together to raise their daughters. Several of Hurst’s books – including Imitation of Life – were made into successful films.

My Life and Hard Times, James Thurber – 1933

Only a month after Ohioana was founded, a startling new book made its debut with the outlandish title of Is Sex Necessary? The book (co-authored by E.B. White) introduced a nation of readers for the first time to a Columbus-born writer and cartoonist named James Thurber. Before then, Thurber was known mainly as a contributor to The New Yorker magazine. He became the quintessential American humorist of the 20th century, and his 1933 memoir, My Life and Hard Times is considered to be his best of his many works. Thurber had a long association with Ohioana, winning our Career Medal in 1953.

The Rains Came, Louis Bromfield – 1937

Although he is best-known today for his Malabar Farm in Richland County, for his innovations in soil conservation, and his nonfiction books on sustainable agriculture, Louis Bromfield was in his own time one of America’s most celebrated novelists. The Mansfield native won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1927, when he was only 30 years old, for his third novel, Early Autumn. The Rains Came, published in 1937, was a sensational best-seller, and two years later was made into an Oscar-winning film. Like Thurber, Bromfield was a good friend to the Ohioana Library, serving as a judge for the very first Ohioana Awards in 1942 and himself receiving the Career Medal in 1946.

High Sierra, W.R. Burnett – 1940

Springfield-born author W.R. (which stood for William Riley) Burnett didn’t simply write in a genre – he created one. The gangster novel was born when Burnett produced his sensational Little Caesar in 1929, immortalized on screen a year later with tough guy Edward G. Robinson in the title role. Burnett did it again in 1940 with High Sierra, which made a star out of Humphrey Bogart when translated to the cinema the following year. Burnett would work in other genres as well (westerns and war stories, most notably the screenplay for the 1963 drama The Great Escape), but it is for his gangster novels and their film adaptations he remains best-known.

Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey – 1941

Few picture books for children are more beloved than Make Way for the Ducklings, the story of a mallard pair and their eight ducklings, set on an island in the Charles River in Boston. The author and illustrator was 27-year-old Robert McCloskey, a native of Hamilton, Ohio. McCloskey was awarded the prestigious Caldecott Medal for Ducklings and would win it a second time in 1958 for Time of Wonder, one of the nine picture books he both wrote and illustrated. In 2000, the Library of Congress named McCloskey a “Living Legend” for his contributions to children’s literature.

Strawberry Girl, Lois Lenski – 1945

Lois Lenski, born in Springfield in 1893, would produce nearly 100 books for children as an author and illustrator between 1927 and her death in 1974. Among her best-known works are the illustrations for 1930’s The Little Engine That Could and a series of historical novels. Her three-part “regional series,” set in the South, was designed to give children “looks at vivid, sympathetic pictures of the real life of different kinds of Americans.” Strawberry Girl, the second book in the series, and the most popular, won both the Newbery Medal and the Ohioana Book Award.

Shane, Jack Schaefer – 1949

Born in Cleveland in 1907 and a graduate of Oberlin College, Jack Schaefer was a journalist and editor who had never been further west than Chicago when in 1946 he produced a three-part story for Argosy magazine entitled “Man from Nowhere.” The story was a hit with readers, so Schaefer decided to expand it into a full-blown novel. The result was 1949’s Shane, which became a huge best-seller. The film version, starring Alan Ladd in the iconic title role, was released in 1953. Today both the film – and Schaefer’s original novel – are considered by critics as among the greatest westerns. Schaefer would go on to write more western novels, including one for children, Old Ramon, which won an Ohioana Book Award and was a Newbery Honor title.

The Town, Conrad Richter – 1950

Although he was born (1890) and died (1968) in Pennsylvania, Conrad Richter spent a good part of his twenties in Cleveland, working as the private secretary to a wealthy industrialist. He was also writing and selling short stories during this time, and he became fascinated with the Ohio frontier. Ultimately it led to The Awakening Land trilogy, a pioneer saga set in the Ohio Valley. The third and final book, The Town, won Richter the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Ohioana would honor Richter in 1967, when The Awakening Land was published for the first time as a single novel.

Star Man’s Son, 2050 A.D., Andre Norton – 1951

Her real name was Alice Mary Norton. But when the Cleveland native began writing and publishing science fiction in the 1930s, she adapted Andre as her first name (she also wrote under two other masculine names: Andrew North and Allen Weston). She became one of the most prolific sci-fi/fantasy authors of her time, producing her last original book in 2005, just before she died at age 93. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, which two years after her death created the Andre Norton Award, given for an outstanding work of science fiction or fantasy for young adults.

A Rage in Harlem, Chester Himes – 1957

Born in Missouri and raised in Cleveland, Chester Himes’ writing career began in an unusual place – the Ohio Penitentiary, where in the early 1928 he was sentenced to a 20-25 year sentence for armed robbery. In prison, he began writing stories, partly as he said to gain respect from guards and also to avoid violence. By the mid-1930s, his stories were finding their way into print in national magazines. Released from prison, he turned full-time to writing, producing a number of novels in the 1940s. But it wasn’t until he moved to Paris in the mid-1950s that he achieved critical acclaim and popular success with his popular “Harlem Detective” series of novels, of which 1957’s A Rage in Harlem was the first.

Selected Poems, Langston Hughes – 1958

Acknowledged as “The Poet of the Harlem Renaissance,” Langston Hughes, like Chester Himes (whose work he encouraged while Himes was still in prison), was born in Missouri and grew up in Cleveland, where his first writing appeared while a student at Central High School. His debut collection of poetry, The Weary Blues, with his celebrated “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” made him one of the leading African American literary figures of his time. Before his death in 1967 at the age of 65, Hughes’ astounding output would include not only poems but novels, short stories, plays, nonfiction books, an opera libretto, and books for children. Selected Poems, published in 1958, is a collection spanning the first 30 years of his career.

Women’s Suffrage and the Ohio Women’s Convention
by | posted in: Collection Highlights, History | 0
Suffragettes representing counties of Ohio.

The Ohioana Library Association was founded by Martha Kinney Cooper, First Lady of Ohio; the first book in Ohioana’s collection, History of the Western Reserve, was donated by its author, Harriet Taylor Upton; Ohioana’s first executive director was Florence Roberts Head, who helped Martha Cooper found the library. These are a few of the extraordinary women who are responsible for Ohioana’s existence thanks to their intelligence, expertise and dedication to the literature of Ohio. In 1929, the year of Ohioana’s founding, these women had had the right to vote for less than a decade.

Martha Kinney Cooper, Harriet Taylor Upton and Florence Roberts Head.

In 1919 the Senate passed the Nineteenth Amendment, prohibiting the states and federal government from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. In August of 1920, the amendment was ratified, and women’s suffrage was adopted nationally. Yet the struggle for women’s suffrage began nearly a century earlier, when women’s conventions began to be established in protest of the discrimination women were experiencing across the country. One of the most significant of these conventions, and the first that was organized statewide, was the Ohio Women’s Convention at Salem. The Convention met April 19-20, 1850 in Salem, Ohio, where more than 500 women were in attendance.

The Salem, Ohio 1850 Women’s Rights Convention Proceedings, complied and edited by Robert W. Audretsch, gives a history and full account of the proceedings of the Ohio Women’s Convention. An excerpt from the text reads,

“It is quite likely that the women who met in Salem for the convention did not realize the history they were making. It was the first women’s rights convention held west of the Alleghenies; it was very likely the second such convention held in the U.S.; and it is probably the first public meeting in the U.S. where the planners, participants and officers were exclusively women.”

Cover page of The Salem, Ohio 1850 Women’s Rights Convention Proceedings.

Conventions like these provided a place for women to meet and discuss some of the ways in which they were being discriminated against – such as the denial of the right to vote, unequal wages, unequal educational opportunities, and women not having control over their property. These meetings illuminated the fact that individual women were not alone in feeling they were being treated unfairly, and that they no longer wished to stand for it.

Cover of A Voice of Their Own: The Woman Suffrage Press, 1840-1910, from Ohioana’s collection.

The convention in Salem is regarded as a pivotal point for women’s suffrage in Ohio, which would continue earnestly for the next 70 years until the vote was secured. It’s unfortunate that many of the woman who organized and attended the convention did not see the day that women’s right to vote was recognized nationally – however, their efforts were essential in starting the conversation and movement that resulted in the nationwide change.

Cover page and inside front page of The Ohio Woman Suffrage Movement.

 One of the leading voices in support of women’s suffrage in Ohio leading up to 1920 was none other than Harriet Taylor Upton, who would become Ohioana’s first contributing author. Upton was born December 17, 1853, and during her life served as a key organizer and first president of the Suffrage Association of Warren, member and treasurer of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. More of her life and efforts are detailed in The Ohio Woman Suffrage Movement, a document compiled by Florence E. Allen and Mary Welles to detail the history of suffrage in the state of Ohio.

During this year, the 100th anniversary of the passing of the nineteenth amendment, we remember those who stood up against great odds in order to bring women closer to equality. The texts and images featured in this post, as well as many others regarding Ohio’s women’s suffrage movement, can be found in the Ohioana Library Association’s collection.

Anniversary of Ohio’s Man on the Moon
by | posted in: Collection Highlights, History | 0
Front page of the The Columbus Dispatch’s souvenir moonwalk section.
Envelope of The Columbus Dispatch’s souvenir moonwalk section.

Fifty years ago this summer the course of history was changed forever. On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. This pivotal moment came after decades of preparation and planning and was a true feat of science and engineering – a remarkable achievement. The whole world watched on as the moment was punctuated by Armstrong’s famous words, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”.

It was an iconic moment that, in a way, all started in Ohio. Before the race to the moon, spacesuits and zero gravity, Neil Armstrong was born in the small town of Wapakoneta in Northeast Ohio on August 5, 1930. Due to his father’s job as an auditor for the State of Ohio, the family moved often during Neil’s childhood and he also called the Ohio communities of Warren, Jefferson, St. Marys and Upper Sandusky his home. By the 1940s the family had returned to Wapakoneta, where Armstrong attended high school and developed a passion for flying. At the age of 16t he earned his pilot’s license in advance even of being issued a driver’s license, practicing flight in the grassy airfields surrounding Wapakoneta. After high school, he went on to college at Purdue University and later joined the navy.

Biography of Neil Armstrong published by the State of Ohio.

After graduation and his service, Armstrong began his career in NASA at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland. From there he held numerous other jobs and responsibilities at NASA, often acting as a test pilot, before eventually being selected for astronaut training in 1962. He served as a backup pilot on Gemini missions 5 and 11 and went to space for the first time as command pilot on Gemini 8. In 1968, Armstrong was offered the post of commander on Apollo 11, along with Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin and Commander Module Pilot Michael Collins. Less than a year later they would be the first humans to successfully land on the moon.

Articles from the Citizen Journal from July 1969 introducing the seven Ohioans who worked on the Apollo Program and the proposal of an Armstrong related museum in Wapakoneta.

With his accomplishments, Armstrong joined the leagues of other notable Ohioans involved in advancements in flight and space exploration. Col. John Glen, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and Orville and Wilbur Wright are just a few air and space pioneers that Ohio claims.

Article from The Dispatch from July 1969 describing the ways in which Armstrong’s hometown was preparing for the big day.

In the days and weeks surrounding the Apollo 11 launch and first moonwalk, it seems natural that Ohioans across the state took a special interest in the event. This is apparent in the publications from the time such as The Columbus Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer. Many newspaper articles and clippings pertaining to the event can be found in Ohioana’s collection. Articles covered all aspects of the moon mission from the astronaut’s daily routines while in space, to reports of how Armstrong’s hometown of Wapakoneta was preparing for the momentous occasion.

There was no one prouder of Neil Armstrong that day than the family, friends and residents back in his hometown of Wapakoneta – or Wapak, as it’s known in the region. Mrs. Grover Crites, wife of Armstrong’s high school math and science teacher, was quoted saying, “There won’t be a dark house in the town of Wapak the night Neil walks on the moon.” Days before the moon mission, The Columbus Dispatch reported that “All 7,000 residents of Wapak … are excited, proud and concerned”. Two years later, in 1971, a museum dedicated to Neil Armstrong was opened in the town thanks to the help of members of the community and Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes. You can visit the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta today to see artifacts from Armstrong’s Apollo 11 and Gemini 8 missions. The museum, as well as the entire town of Wapakoneta, is holding celebrations of the moon landing anniversary all year. For more information visit: https://www.firstonthemoon.org/.

The anniversary of the moonwalk was celebrated everywhere this year – including in the 2019 Ohio State Fair’s annual butter sculpture depicting Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin.

All images courtesy of Ohioana’s collection.

Happy Halloween!
by | posted in: authors, Collection Highlights, History, Holidays, reading, Writing | 0

Happy Halloween! Here in Ohio, we enjoy all things spooky. Did you know that Ohio is the state with the most annual haunted house attractions, with 111 in total? It seems that we love being scared, and that goes for our literature as well. If you’re looking for a good book to scare you on Halloween night, look no further. Below is a list of Ohio authors that specialize in stories about the dark and creepy to satisfy your need for thrills and scares.

Photo courtesy of Scholastic

  1. R. L. Stine

Few scary series are more iconic (or more chilling) than R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps. With over 230 books geared at grades 3-7, the Goosebumps series has something to scare everyone. Stine explores tales about everything from ghosts and werewolves to swamp monsters and mummies, and the books have even been adapted into a movie series.

 

Watch below to see R. L. Stine himself discussing the legacy of Goosebumps.

2. Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison was a master of sci-fi and speculative fiction, sometimes crossing into horror as well. He is the author of more than 1,700 stories, film and TV scripts, and our library specialist recommends that you start with the short story “I Have No Mouth but I Must Scream”.

3. James A. Willis 

If you’re looking for strange and spooky stories based on Ohio fact, James Willis probably has a book for you! He is the author of The Big Book of Ohio Ghost Stories and Ohio’s Historic Haunts: Investigating the Paranormal in the Buckeye State, among others. History and the paranormal mingle in Willis’s work, and are sure to prove fascinating to anyone familiar with some of Ohio’s notorious haunts.

4. Chris Woodyard

Since 1991, Chris Woodyard has been scaring residents of the Buckeye State with frightening stories that hit close to home. Make sure to explore her website, hauntedohiobooks.com, for tips on where to find ghosts in Ohio, how to write ghost stories of your own, and more.

5. Gary Braunbeck

Gary A. Braunbeck is a prolific author who writes mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mainstream literature. He is the author of 19 books and his fiction has received several awards, including the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction in 2003 for “Duty” and in 2005 for “We Now Pause for Station Identification”; his collection Destinations Unknown won a Stoker in 2006. His novella “Kiss of the Mudman” received the International Horror Guild Award for Long Fiction in 2005.

6. Lucy Snyder

Lucy A. Snyder is a five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author, which should clue you in that she knows her stuff when it comes to scary stories! She wrote the novels Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress, and Switchblade Goddess, and the collections While the Black Stars Burn, Soft Apocalypses, Orchid Carousals, Sparks and Shadows and Chimeric Machines. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Apex Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Scary Out There, Seize the Night, and Best Horror of the Year.

7. Tim Waggoner

Shirley Jackson Award finalist Tim Waggoner has published over thirty novels and three short story collections of dark fiction. Most recently published is The Mouth of the Dark, the story of Jayce and his 20-year-old daughter, Emory, who is missing, lost in a dark, dangerous realm called Shadow that exists alongside our own reality. An enigmatic woman named Nicola guides Jayce through this bizarre world, and together they search for Emory, facing deadly dog-eaters, crazed killers, and — worst of all — a monstrous being known as the Harvest Man. But no matter what Shadow throws at him, Jayce won’t stop. He’ll do whatever it takes to find his daughter, even if it means becoming a worse monster than the things that are trying to stop him.

8. Laura Bickle 

Laura Bickle specializes in dreaming up stories about the monsters under the stairs. She writes for adults and young adults, and her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016.

9. Josef Matulich

These aren’t your typical horror stories! Josef Matulich is a master of both laughs and scares, combing humor with horror. Some of his titles include The Ren Faire at the End of the World and 44 Lies by 22 Liars.

10. Dayna Ingram

Dayna Ingram writes science fiction horror for young adults. Of her latest book, Kirkus reviews writes, “”Ingram gives a nightmarish twist to the familiar YA formula of teenagers facing martyrdom by an oppressive society…. An absorbing and poignant YA dystopian fantasy with a convincing heroine.”

Ohioana’s First Virtual Exhibit
by | posted in: Collection Highlights | 0

This year marks Ohioana’s 88th year in operation, and during that time Ohioana has had plenty of time to grow, adapt and, of course, collect literature from Ohio authors. Ohioana’s collection now includes more than 45,000 books, 10,000 pieces of sheet music, and approximately 20,000 biographical files on Ohio writers, musicians, and artists. The best news? Any of these items can be requested to be viewed in our library, by anyone!

While this is wonderful for everyone who is able to make it to visit Ohioana’s collection in person in downtown Columbus, some may live too far away or simply may not be able to visit us. However, we think it’s very important to highlight interesting and culturally significant pieces in our collection, and to show them to you even if you can’t make it here to see them. That’s why Ohioana is happy to present our very first virtural exhibit!

This exhibit features the entirety of a scrapbook from Ohioana’s collection, created by the Junior-Juvenile division of the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs during 1935-1937. The Ohio Federation of Music Clubs (OFMC) is part of the National Federation of Music Clubs, which is dedicated to the love and study of music, and just celebrated their cenntinial year. Click here to visit the OFMC’s Website and learn more about the history of the organization, as well as current events.

The scrapbook is composed of 98 pages, with each page decorated by members of music-focused clubs from 30 towns and cities located across Ohio. Pages include articles and programs, as well as photographs, illustrations and handpainted, hand-drawn and handwritten components. This exhibit includes images of all of the pages of the scrapbook, as well as images of every program and fold-out featured on the individual pages.

This scrapbook is a proud part of Ohioana’s collection, and we are very happy to have the opportunity to share it with you! Click here to visit it, or navigate from our homepage by clicking on the link under “Resources”. Enjoy, and check back for more virtual exhibits featuring items from Ohioana’s collection in the future!

Happy Spring!
by | posted in: Collection Highlights, Ohioana Book Festival | 0

It’s here! Spring is here! On Monday, did you run outside and beat on the ground with a stick to tell the earth to wake up? And some daffodils were blooming on Monday. Did you pick one and eat it?

No? *Whew!* Good move! They’re not edible! Although someone at Ohioana did indeed eat one and nothing bad happened. It was planted on top of a mound of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce (a Blooming Sundae — get it?) and she ate the bits you are supposed to eat as well.

But you needn’t feel slighted — there are plenty of other flowers to add to salads, soups, or main dishes.

In Edible Flowers: A Global History by Constance L. Kirker and former Ohio University professor Mary Newman, you can easily learn what to eat and why (Mary will be at the Ohioana Book Festival on April 8, by the way).

This nifty little book provides a history a edible plants from all over the world. It also provides a unique history of the world since plants found useful or delightful in one country are imported to other countries for propagation and use.

The book also makes the reader re-think the concept of a “flower,” which most of us consider to be a beautiful, fragrant, but perhaps useless thing. After all, what is an artichoke but the flowering part of the plant. We eat them. And the preferred part of the broccoli in North America is the stuff at the top, although some people reject the buds for the stem.

Authors Kirker and Newman always advice caution, reminding the reader that even plants considered medicinal can be bad for you if over-used. Even too much of a good thing will make you sick.

So when you’re at the garden center later this spring, you’re ready to check out with your cart full of flats of marigolds and nasturtiums, and the clerk asks you if you need some help getting them out to your car, you can say, “No thanks. I’ll just eat them here!”

Good Luck and Bad Luck
by | posted in: Collection Highlights | 0

March is a month when we remember fate and destiny. Or the lack of fate and destiny. Sometimes, things just happen.

March 15 is famous for being the Ides of March, or the middle of the month. It’s the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of his senate. It’s memorable to the English-speaking world because of William Shakespeare’s play. So it’s because of a writer that we remember this particular assassination and feel the chill in our own bones as we look at the calendar.

Likewise, March is the month of St. Patrick’s Day. But before you go slinging about the phrase “the luck of the Irish” like it’s something to celebrate, realize the phrase is ironic. The Irish were considered an unlucky group of people because of the poverty they faced in the old country and the prejudice they faced in the new.

Luck also reminds us at Ohioana about two sons of our state: Eddie Rickenbacker (good luck) and George Armstrong Custer (the other kind).

In our collection, we have Rickenbacker’s own memoirs of his service during the Great War, Fighting the Flying Circus, which was published in 1919 by the Frederick A. Stokes Company. The book includes a handsome portrait of Colonel Rickenbacker in the front as well as a glossary of terms unfamiliar to the reading public at the time, including “joystick” and “zoom.” A biography in our collection is titled Rickenbacker’s Luck, and was written by Finis Farr and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1979. Rickenbacker was never injured in combat, and not seriously in a childhood attempt to fly a bicycle off of the roof of the family garage. So that’s good luck right there.

Neither luck nor heroism are associated with Custer. He’s regarded, rightly or wrongly, as a vainglorious fool with emphasis on the “vain” part. The 1970 film, Little Big Man probably has a lot to do with that perception. The general was portrayed as a complete creep (at best) by actor Richard Mulligan. The truth, as always, is somewhere else, a concept investigated by Nathaniel Philbrick in The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of Little Bighorn. In the end, the only place left for Custer to find another way forward is in the land of alternate history, like the novel Custer’s Luck by Robert Skimin and William E. Moody, published by Herodias in 2000. Yes, the victor of Little Bighorn was elected president in 1880.

Strange days indeed. Be careful out there today, March 15, OK?

 

Black History Month is something to celebrate!
by | posted in: Collection Highlights | 0

Black History Month was much shorter when it began in 1926: it was only a week long. The celebration was the brain child of historian and educator Carter G. Woodson, who spent quite a bit of his youth in Huntington, West Virginia – one of Ohio’s neighbors to the south. February was chosen since it’s also the month of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

A new documentary was just released last week reminded us of one our books in the collection. The documentary is I Am Not Your Negro, which brings to life the words of James Baldwin. The book is Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White. Written by Kathy Y. Wilson, the title is based on Wilson’s exasperation with a white newsroom colleague. Sick and tired of questions about hip-hop groups, Wilson advised the colleague to get a black friend and said “I’m NOT your Negro tour guide.” And a column was born. Ms. Wilson’s collection of essay, published by Emmis Books in Cincinnati in 2004. The review in Publisher’s Weekly noted that “Wilson writes in a voice that can fairly simmer with disgust, indignation and a powerful blast of irony.”

We also want to share some images from events and the collection.

Way back when, one of the librarians at Ohioana wrote to Mr. Langston Hughes. He wrote back, alerting her to the existence of some writers that he thought she ought to know about.

We also want to share a picture of Rita Dove, who was honored by Ohioana in 2010 — The honor was all OURS, however. And to celebrate Ms. Dove a bit more, here’s a link to a recent interview that the Poetry Foundation recently published. Good stuff here. Good to read and take to heart.

We love our old books at Ohioana, not only for what’s between the covers but for the covers themselves. We love this book for the paisley print, like fabric, and for the photo of the sweet and handsome man. While Dunbar’s use of dialect in written speech has long fallen from use, we can still appreciate his intent to write with love and compassion as well as his commercial and  popular success.  As Nikki Giovanni said of Dunbar, “He wanted to be a writer, and he wrote.”

1 2 3 4 5