Since the first Ohioana Book Festival was held with ten authors in 2007, the festival has given readers the opportunity to connect with their favorite Ohio writers. In 2020 we will welcome 140 authors and illustrators to the virtual festival.
OHIOANA BOOK FESTIVAL: August 28-30
Use the YouTube playlists below to easily access panels and author content:
Hear your favorite authors talk about their books and their writing process, and ask them questions in our live sessions. We will be posting panels throughout the weekend, so check below to see when panels will go live. See below for panel descriptions, moderators and panelists.
Writing our own stories and digging into our pasts can be a challenging task. Join four writers as they discuss their process and experience in writing personal narratives told from the vantage point of real-life experience.
Reading can be like time travel. Reliving the stories and setting that came before us. Join our panelists to discuss their stories of tales set in the historical past and how they came to write these popular and exciting novels.
Choose to Read Ohio spotlights Ohio authors and promotes reading across Ohio. The State Library of Ohio, Ohioana Library Association and Ohio Center for the Book encourage Ohioans of all ages to read and enjoy books together. Each CTRO booklist highlights selected books for a two-calendar-year promotion. Join current and former CTRO authors as they discuss these fantastic books.
Introduction: Janet Ingraham-Dwyer Moderator: Meg Brown
May 4, 1970 – the day four students were shot by the Ohio
National Guard in a protest that turned violent. Fifty years later, there are
still questions surrounding this tragic, controversial event. Our panelists
include novelists who have written against the backdrop of the event,
journalists, and someone who was there that unforgettable day.
(Please note: the opinions of the panelists do not reflect those
of their respective employers/organizations. They would also like to us to
include the following link to more information about the events at Kent State,
which elaborate on the discussion:
Columbus is a city of stories. Join our panelists – journalists, novelists, an editor, and even a zookeeper – as they discuss just a few of the varied, incredible tales that bring our capital city to life.
For too long, the stories of the LGBTQIA+ community in Ohio have been untold – silenced, repressed. With the passing of Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 and the legalization of same-sex marriage, doors have slowly begun to open. Join our authors, who write fiction, do podcasts and videos, and speak publicly about their own LGBTQIA+ stories, and discuss how more of those stories can be told and more voices amplified.
Join an experienced panel of writers, editors, and writing coaches as they discuss their varying journeys to becoming published, and the process it takes to write a book.
The pandemic has put a hold on travel for most of the world. Join our panelists as they discuss traveling abroad – whether for the military or for pleasure – and the ways in which it changed their lives.
Four Black authors, writing in a variety of genres, share their experiences with poet Scott Woods, as they create art in this historic and unprecedented time. Hosted by Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Join our authors as they discuss how they write stories set in today’s landscape, as well as those authors who influenced and inspired them to become writers.
Love is great. Love is also stupid. Love is also frustrating, joyful, romantic, and can destroy you. Our panelists discuss what may be humanity’s most complex emotion, and how to express and write about love in all its forms.
How does one “live their best life?” Join these panelists to find out how – all of them have advice for overcoming adversity – cancer, depression, weight gain, etc. – and how to keep the faith and trust your own instincts to become your best self.
Get some tips on how to write a great genre story – whether it’s mystery, science fiction, fantasy, or your own genre. These authors will weigh in on how to tell a great story no matter what genre it is.
The best speculative fiction tells a story that is recognizable to all audiences – whether it includes spaceships, strange creatures, ghosts, or other things we don’t usually encounter in everyday life. These panelists are some of the best in the business. Listen to their advice on writing spec fic and learn about those writers who influenced and guided them.
(Note from the panelists: They would like us to include the following links, one of which was slightly misspoken in the panel: Horror Writers Association – http://horror.org/ & Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America – https://www.sfwa.org/ )
Did you know that Ohio is considered the home to Rock N’ Roll? Or that the beloved film The Shawshank Redemption was filmed in Mansfield? Learn that and so much more in this panel about the treasures of “Hidden Ohio.”
Our authors have been hard at work putting together content for you! Please click here after 7pm on Friday, August 28 for a listing for readings, book trailers, story times and more!
Check back for programs and activities featuring Ohioana Book Festival authors are free and open to the public and take place before the main event beginning on August 28th. Some will be streaming live, while others will be pre-recorded. All will be recorded and available for replay in the days following the event.
Join the Ohioana Book Festival and the Central & Southern Ohio Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for a live panel featuring Ohio authors and illustrators Krysten Lindsay Hager, Aiko Ikegami, Samuel Narh, and Julie Rubini! This free special event will take place from 7:00 – 8:30 pm on August 17, 2020 via Zoom.
From picture books and illustration to middle grade and young adult titles, the panelists will discuss their books and craft, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at the wide world of children’s publishing. A live audience Q&A will also be included in this evening of kidlit fun!
Tom
Batiuk (creator of the long-running comic strip Funky Winkerbean) and
Jay Kalagayan (creator, writer and publisher of MeSseD) join Ohio Center
for the Book Scholar-In-Residence Dr. Valentino Zullo for a conversation about
their use of comics as a storytelling medium, the state of comics in Ohio, and
much more!
Join Bob Batchelor and Janice Hisle in partnership with the Cincinnati Public Library for a discussion of murder and mayhem in the Queen City! Come prepared with questions and get ready to explore the history, intrigue and mystery of true crime in Cincinnati.
Join the illustrator and writer of UltraSquad, Julia DeVillers and Rafael Rosado, for a live reading and drawing demonstration, hosted by McConnell Arts Center!
Our annual Book Loft Poetry night will not be stopped! Join Gary Lovely and all of our Ohioana Book Festival Poets for a great night of poetry reading!
Paragraphs presents a conversation with some of the best and most creative writers and illustrators of Middle Grade and Young Adult poetry and nonfiction books. Enjoy their discussion of the creative process and the crossover appeal these books have to readers of all ages.
2020 saw the 90th anniversary of the publication of the first Nancy Drew novel, by “Carolyn Keene” (pen name originally used by Toledo’s own Mildred Wirt Benson). Our panel of popular mystery writers takes a deep dive into their own novels about amateur female sleuths, as well as the influence Nancy has had on their careers.
Currently a doctoral candidate at Xavier University, 2020 Ohioana Book Festival author Kiya Renae has written three books: Through Her Own Eyes: This is Only the Beginning; It’s Ok to Be Broken: Highs, Lows, and Happy Mediums; and an as-yet untitled third book. Listen in to hear Ms. Renea share some of her writing and her story ahead of her participation in the virtual Ohioana Book Festival on August 28-30.
Ohioana 2020 author Jodi Andes has worked at the Columbus Dispatch and was a senior investigator at The Ohio Attorney General’s office, where she conducted an inquiry into the con artist Bobby Thompson, the subject of her book, Master of Deceit. Listen in to hear why this conman was able to get access to the top American politicians of the time, like George W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, Karl Rove, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, while defrauding American veterans of $100 million.
Join a conversation between Ohio Humanities Executive Director Pat Williamsen and Ohio University professors Daniel Skinner and Berkeley Franz about the book and project, Not Far from Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio.
With support from Ohio Humanities, Ohio University medical school professors Daniel Skinner and Berkeley Franz launched a website that provides resources for facilitating community conversations and reducing stigma around the issue of opioid abuse.Skinner and Frantz have facilitated such conversations in libraries, community centers and other spaces in communities around Ohio.The site is a companion to Skinner and Franz’s co-edited book, Not Far from Me:Stories of Opioids and Ohio, which features more than 50 first-person accounts of the opioid crisis in Ohio. The book’s contributors include educators, medical professionals, sports coaches, teachers, community leaders, family members, and recovering opioid users. Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland wrote the book’s forward.Of the book, the award-winning author of Dreamland, Sam Quinones, said: “As a journalist and storyteller, I’m convinced that only through stories of real people will the stigma surrounding addiction fade. Which is what makes projects like Not Far from Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio so important and worth reading. We hear from them all: doctors, addicts, poets, mothers, librarians, nurses, pastors, inmates and football coaches. Even though this volume is about one state, and only a few people from that state, together they tell one of the crucial stories of America today.”
