News

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, ... Read More

In recognition of the five finalists in fiction for the Ohioana Book Award, we’re featuring a question and answer with each author over the next few weeks. This week’s post features Tiffany McDaniel. Tiffany  is an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and buckeye woods of the land she knows. A poet and artist, she is ... Read More

This is not a drill: Ohioana’s operating support has been eliminated from the state budget, or at least the version passed May 2 in the Ohio House of Representatives. I’m sure you’re as surprised and shocked as we are. Ohioana promotes and celebrates our great state and is one of the nation’s leading literary centers. It directly serves 150,000 Ohioans every year and ... Read More

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 ... Read More

The Ohioana Library is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2017 Ohioana Book Awards. First given in 1942, the awards are the second oldest state literary prizes in the nation and honor outstanding achievement by Ohio authors in five categories: Fiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature, and Nonfiction. The sixth category, About Ohio/Ohioan, may also include books ... Read More

The 11th annual Ohioana Book Festival is now part of history! From the people eagerly waiting to get in before the doors opened, the large and enthusiastic crowds at many panel discussions, the huge number of kids and teens in their special spaces, the lines of people waiting to check out at The Book Loft, and the fact that our two ... Read More

It’s here! Hope you have time on Saturday to join us for the Ohioana Book Festival! It’s free! This is the 11th one, and we’re just as thrilled and psyched for this event as we were for the first one in 2007! (Isn’t the poster fantastic? It’s the creation of Lindsay Ward. She’s going to be at the festival too!) ... Read More

The Winter issue of the Ohioana Quarterly focused on our good friend, the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati. This library is one of the gems in the crown of the Queen City. It was established in 1835, according to the feature story written by Ohioana board member Bryan Loar. Its founders were merchants and clerks, hence the name. These young men of the city, ... Read More

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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More