News

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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More

By Kathryn Powers There are two sides to every story. The mad Prince of Denmark is the star of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but what if Ophelia had the chance to share her tale? This is the premise of Ophelia, the young adult novel by Columbus author Lisa Klein. Lisa was a professor of English before embarking on her career writing books ... Read More

It’s that time of year again! It’s to the pleasure of everyone at Ohioana to announce the 2019 Ohioana Awards. Every year, the Awards recognize an outstanding title in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, About Ohio/Ohioan, Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature, Juvenile Literature. Readers are also invited to have their voices heard in voting for the Readers’ Choice Award. In addition, a young ... Read More

Winners will be announced in July, awards presented at Ohio Statehouse on October 17 Columbus, OH – May 17, 2019 —The Ohioana Library has announced the finalists for the 2019 Ohioana Book Awards. First given in 1942, the awards are the second oldest state literary prizes in the nation and honor outstanding works by Ohio authors in five categories: Fiction, Poetry, ... Read More

The Ohioana Library Association thanks everyone who has expressed their views and concerns regarding diversity in our programming, particularly the 2018 Ohioana Book Awards held last October at the Ohio Statehouse, and the 2019 Ohioana Book Festival, held on April 27 at Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Library. This year marks Ohioana’s 90th anniversary. Throughout our history, Ohioana has served diverse ... Read More

(Ellis Avery at the 2013 Ohioana Book Festival, photo credit Elizabeth Nihiser) March is Women’s History Month, and today happens to be International Women’s Day. So it seems fitting to pay tribute to one extraordinary woman and writer, Ellis Avery. Sadly, Ellis passed away on February 15, at the young age of 46. In 2002, Ellis received the Ohioana Walter ... Read More

A near capacity crowd was on hand February 20 as Ohioana presented, “From Prison to Prominence: The Life and Literary Work of Chester Himes” at the Martin Luther King, Jr. branch of Columbus Metropolitan Library. Author Yolonda Tonette Sanders, the creator of the “Protective Detective” mystery series, conceived the program, in which she “interviewed” Chester Himes, portrayed by Columbus actor ... Read More