The 13th annual Ohioana Book Festival, was held April 2019 at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Library. The 17th annual Ohioana Book Festival on Saturday marks the event’s in-person return, as COVID-19 forced the festival online for three years. Credit: Mary Rathke

After moving completely online for the past three years due to COVID-19, the 17th-annual Ohioana Book Festival is adopting a hybrid format to host over 100 authors.

Nearly a dozen of the festival’s various in-person programs — including author panels, readings and storytimes — will be live-streamed or recorded for later viewing, David Weaver, executive director of the Ohioana Library Association, said. The decision aligns with the free festival’s goal of connecting as many readers with Ohio writers as possible, he said.

Weaver said Ohioana’s virtual events are scheduled for Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Library. This idea was sparked by last year’s post-festival survey.

“We found out that we had people who were logging in and watching panels from eight states outside of Ohio and Manitoba, Canada,” Weaver said. “It was really amazing. One of the great things about doing virtual events is that obviously, you reach a much wider audience.”

The emergence of a hybrid format is a testament to the festival’s ability to expand and evolve, Weaver said. Now expecting thousands of attendees and 131 authors, the festival has grown from its roots of just 10 authors and a couple of hundred attendees at the event’s first iteration in 2007, he said.

“This will be our second festival to be at Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Library downtown,” Weaver said. “We’ve outgrown three spaces in the history of the festival, just by virtue of the number of authors we’ve had and the number of attendees we’ve had.”

The most noteworthy benefit of holding the festival in person is organizing a book fair in partnership with The Book Loft of German Village, Weaver said. He said book lovers can pick up featured authors’ works and get them signed throughout the day.

Debut authors, 28 of which will attend the event, especially appreciate the opportunity to interact with readers and begin building a fan base, Weaver said.

“We like to say that we hope people will not only come and see and hear their favorite authors, but they might meet an author who’s going to be a favorite down the line,” Weaver said.

Poet and author Felicia Zamora is not a debut author, having already penned six poetry books, but her appearance at 2023’s festival will be her first. The prospect of encountering Columbus’ literary community in full force is energizing to Zamora as both a writer and reader, she said.

“When I’m creating on the page, when I’m writing poetry, or writing prose or writing anything, I know that I’m not doing it in a vacuum,” Zamora said. “We create something and put it out into the world because it’s meant to be read. I have so many life-changing experiences from the books that I’ve read, from the authors who move me.”

Zamora, an assistant professor of poetry at the University of Cincinnati, said she will present her 2021 poetry book “I Always Carry My Bones” Saturday. Winner of the 2022 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry, it explores the complicated and sometimes painful nature of family dynamics, Zamora said.

“That’s a book that looks closely at lineage and sort of my history growing up as well, speaking about a father whom I’ve never met and the relationships that I had with my grandfather and the small town in which we grew up in,” Zamora said.

Another author visiting the festival is Manuel Iris, a poet laureate emeritus of Cincinnati and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s current writer-in-residence.

Containing English and Spanish poems, Iris’ 2021 poetry book “The Parting Present / Lo que se irá” merited the 2022 Ohioana Reader’s Choice Book Award. Iris said he looks forward to discussing it with festival goers.

“It’s a book that has given me a lot of satisfaction,” Iris said. “It’s a book that has been read and liked by many people, precisely because it talks about the love of a father for his daughter, which is a theme that has not been explored enough in literature.”

Events such as the Ohioana Book Festival are more culturally significant than some might think, Iris said. They often embolden aspiring authors to pursue self-fulfilling careers and worthwhile stories, he said.

“In order to make this country and the world a better place where we all fit, and we all belong, we need to be able to hear everybody’s voice,” Iris said.

Weaver said the Ohioana Book Festival, whether experienced online or in person, is ultimately about appreciating Ohio’s vast capacity for literary excellence.

“If a state can be proud of its football, baseball and basketball players, why not be proud of its poets, novelists and illustrators?” Weaver said.

Additional information concerning the 2023 Ohioana Book Festival, including a comprehensive schedule, is available on the Ohioana Library Association’s website