The Big Give!
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“I am really grateful because I know the people who have won [the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant] in the past go on to do bigger and better things.”

Negesti Kaudo, 2015 Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant winner congratulated by Steven Moore of the Columbus Foundation.

 

 

Every day Ohioana Library works to connect readers and Ohio writers. Serving over 150,000 people a year, Ohioana celebrates Ohio’s creativity through its festival and awards while collecting and preserving the state’s rich literary heritage.

Your donation will make a BIG difference! And thanks to The Big Give, it will go farther.  From 10 a.m. Tuesday, October 10th to 12 noon Wednesday, October 11th, your gift will be amplified courtesy of a $1.3 million bonus pool.

Donations help Ohioana continue outreach to children and underrepresented populations, keep the largest festival on Ohio literature free, and provide encouragement to up-and-coming authors like Negesti Kaudo and now Pulitzer Prize Winner Anthony Doerr.

Donating during The Big Give is simple!

VISIT beginning at 10 a.m. October 10.
GIVE securely using a major credit card with a minimum gift of $20.
CELEBRATE as you’ve made a real difference!

All gifts must be made using a credit card or through a Columbus Foundation Donor Advised Fund on The Columbus Foundation’s website.

If you have any questions, please contact Ohioana Executive Director David Weaver at 614-466-3831 or dweaver@ohioana.org.

Thank you for ensuring Ohio’s literary legacy thrives and that authors like Negesti and Anthony can connect with people like you.

Sincerely,
David Weaver

Announcing an evening of fun and books: The 2017 Ohioana Awards!
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Join us for one of Ohioana’s most elegant evenings: the 76th Ohioana Awards on October 6.

We’ll gather in the Statehouse Atrium on Friday, October 6,  from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and honor our writers and Ohioana’s grand tradition of recognizing some deserving and creative people.

Tickets are $50 and available for purchase. The cost includes wine and hors d’oeuvres. The Awards Ceremony is always a good time for everyone, and we hope you’ll join us!

This year’s event includes winners in seven categories:

Fiction
Marisa Silver, Little Nothing, Blue Rider Press.

Nonfiction
Douglas Brinkley, Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, Harper.

About Ohio or an Ohioan
J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, Harper.

Juvenile Literature
C.F. Payne (illustrator) and Sue Macy (author), Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber, Paula Wiseman Books.

Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature
Sally Derby, Jump Back Paul, Candlewick.

Poetry
Teri Ellen Cross Davis, Haint: Poems, Gival Press.

Reader’s Choice
Tiffany McDaniel, The Summer That Melted Everything, St. Martin’s Press.

 

 

 

Ohioana Announces the 2017 Ohioana Awards
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The Ohioana Library has announced the winners of the 2017 Ohioana Awards, including seven book awards and the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant.

First given in 1942, the Ohioana Book Awards are the second oldest, and among the most prestigious, state literary prizes in the nation. Nearly every major writer from Ohio in the past 75 years has been honored, from James Thurber to Toni Morrison. The 2017 winners are:

Fiction: Marisa Silver, Little Nothing

Nonfiction: Douglas Brinkley, Rightful Heritage – Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America

Poetry: Teri Ellen Cross Davis, Haint

About Ohio/Ohioan: J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy – A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature: Sally Derby, Jump Back, Paul – The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar

Juvenile Literature: C.F. Payne, Miss Mary Reporting

Reader’s Choice: Tiffany McDaniel, The Summer That Melted Everything

Six of the awards were selected by juries, while the Readers’ Choice Award was chosen by voters in an online poll.

“It was tough for judges to make a decision,” said Ohioana Executive Director David Weaver. “This year’s thirty finalists included winners of the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the Newbery Medal, and the Pushcart Prize; a Guggenheim Fellow; two U.S. Children’s Poet Laureates; CNN’s Presidential Historian; and five authors whose titles made either the New York Times or Amazon 2016 year-end “best” list. It was truly an outstanding year for Ohio authors and books.”

 

In addition to the book awards, Ohioana announced Ashley Bethard as the 28th winner of the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, a competitive prize for Ohio writers age 30 or younger who have not yet published a book. The grant, named for Ohioana’s second director and endowed by his family, has helped launch a number of notable literary careers, including Anthony Doerr. Doerr won the grant in 2000 at age 26 and has gone on to become one of America’s leading contemporary authors, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2015 for All the Light We Cannot See.

The Ohioana Awards will be presented Friday, October 6, in the Atrium of Ohio’s historic Statehouse in Columbus. Tickets for event, which include a pre-awards reception, will go on sale August 25.

It’s YOUR turn!!
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Calling all readers! Earlier this week, Ohioana launched our second annual Readers’ Choice Award online poll – and we want to hear from you! Created last year in celebration of the Ohioana Awards’ 75th anniversary, the poll invites readers to choose their favorite book from among the thirty award finalists selected by our judges (our inaugural winner: Mary Doria Russell, for Epitaph).

Voting is open until Monday, July 3, at noon. We will announce the favorite in each of the award categories, but only ONE book – the one receiving the most votes overall – will win the prize! What will it be: a collection of poems – or a novel? A children’s picture book – or a biography? YOU decide!

So play your part in this year’s Ohioana Book Awards celebration! Go online and vote today (only one vote per computer).