Location: Columbus Metropolitan Main Library, 96 S. Grant Ave., Columbus, OH 43215

I was thankful that volunteers supplied a festival program that contained a list of the authors with a picture of their book cover and their table numbers, a schedule of the kid’s activities, the panel and roundtable sessions schedule, and a map of the tables. There were about 75 authors scheduled to attend. I was glad that I had narrowed down which authors to talk to prior to coming to the event (http://www.ohioana.org). I selected the authors primarily based on the titles that caught my eye.

Sidebar: The authors were sitting VERY close to each other and the aisles were narrow in the popular sections. If you don’t need a backpack, don’t bring it. I couldn’t tell you how many times people bumped into my backpack.

I talked to Dave Lange author of Virginity Lost in Vietnam, Mark Dean author of  Hands Over Time, Sharon M. Draper author of Blended, Kerrie Hollihan author of Reporting Under Fire: 16 Daring Women War Correspondents and Photojournalists (Women of Action), e.E. Charlton-Trujillo author of Fat Angie Rebel Girl Revolution, Julie K. Rubini author of  Eye to Eye: Sports Journalist Christine Brennan, Olivia Matthews author of Peril of Prayer,  David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker authors of  Lynching and Mob Violence in Ohio, and David Kimmel author of Outrage in Ohio: A Rural Murder, Lynching, and Mystery.

My take on the Ohioana Book Festival:

It is said that most people have a least one book in them. I admire people who have the dedication to publish that one book. Everyone I talked to was excited and passionate to share about their books. Parking was free in the library lot. I’m not sure if that was due to the festival or not. I suggest you bring a couple of dollars in case it is not free in future years because you might end up staying at the festival longer than the one hour of free parking (usual).