The 2019 edition of the Ohioana Book Festival took place at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, where the organizers wish to come back as soon as the pandemic is over. Credit: Courtesy of David Weaver
Bookworms might not get a physical signature from their favorite authors this year, but the Ohioana Library Association still managed to dig up an impressive guest list for the annual Ohioana Book Festival Thursday.
The Ohioana Book Festival is celebrating its 15th anniversary, boasting a lineup of 137 authors to honor Ohio literature. David Weaver, executive director of the OLA, said the inaugural 2007 edition of the largest literary event in Ohio featured 10 authors and 100 attendees — this year’s festival is expected to draw at least 50,000 attendees.
This is the second year that the festival has been held online, Weaver said. In anticipation of the event, he said the OLA has been spreading the word to book-loving Buckeyes across the state.
“We will do outreach appearances at libraries and schools, we will have authors who go on radio or television, so we really have expanded the types of programming that the festival does so it reaches a much broader audience of people,” Weaver said.
The core of the festival consists of panel discussions from Thursday to Sunday, which each include four to five authors discussing literary topics such as Ohio tales, historical fiction, the art of writing a short story and more.
Joining the “Thrills and Chills for Teens and Tweens” discussion on Sunday at 1 p.m. is Robert Lawrence Stine. Stine is an established author in children’s literature, known for his hundreds of horror novels, namely Goosebumps, the second-best selling book series of all time.
Graduating from Ohio State in 1965, Stine said he recalls being the editor of Sundial, the university’s humor magazine, for three years before heading to New York City, where he would start his own magazine for teenagers, “Bananas.”
“That was my life’s dream to have my own humor magazine,” Stine said. “I never dreamed that I would end up being scary.”
Although horror writing was not his original idea, Stine said he loved reading the horror comics “Tales from the Crypt” as a child.
“They were really creepy and scary, and they all had funny twist endings,” Stine said. “I think those comic books were very influential on me. What I tried to do in ‘Goosebumps’ is to be scary and funny at the same time.”
Since finding success with his first novel “Blind Date” in 1986, Stine never stopped writing. He said the pandemic only reinforced his passion for writing.
“This past year, it’s been so nice to be able to work and to write for three or four hours a day,” Stine said. “It’s like a little bit of normal life for me.”
However, he said including the pandemic in his future novels is out of the question.
“That’s too terrifying and too real,” Stine said.
Stine said he is participating in the festival this year to support the Columbus stage and to rediscover the sense of magic that comes with live festivals.
“I miss getting out and meeting my readers,” Stine said. “A lot of authors don’t like to tour and do personal appearances, but I love that part.”
Stine’s latest book and the latest installment of the “Goosebumps Slappyworld” series, “Monster Blood is Back,” will be judged during the festival.
“Blood is this disgusting green substance that comes in a can and is sold for some reason in toy stores. And the problem with it is once you open the can, it starts to grow. And you can’t stop it,” Stine said. “It’s sticky and swallows up people and it becomes like a big blob monster.”
Stine said he is also excited about the upcoming release of the Netflix film adaptation of his “Fear Street” series this summer.
The festival runs through Sunday and is free for attendees on YouTube. The full schedule is available on the Ohioana website.
Correction: A previous version of the story stated that the festival was hosted by the Ohio Library Association. This is incorrect. It is hosted by the Ohioana Library Association. The story has been updated.
