A stack of books. Credit: Courtesy of TNS
Often inundated with assignments, college students don’t have too much time to read for pleasure. Research shows they may be missing out.
According to a Journal of American College Health study, which monitored 231 Canadian college students and was digitally published in March 2020, “[r]ecreational reading was associated with decreased anxiety and depressive symptoms over the school year, when controlling for baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms.”
Angus Fletcher, a professor of story science in Ohio State’s Department of English, said reading can be a powerful self-care tool for young adults. For students who want to develop a healthy reading habit, the 18th annual Ohioana Book Festival on April 20 may be the right fit, David Weaver, the Ohioana Library Association’s executive director, said.
Fletcher is also an active contributor to the College of Arts and Sciences’ Project Narrative, “a cluster of faculty, visiting scholars and graduate students who work on narrative and narrative theory,” according to the college’s website. A self-proclaimed “story scientist,” Fletcher said reading for pleasure can help invigorate people’s imaginations and emotional intelligence.
“Different books are engineered with different kinds of medicines in them, basically,” Fletcher said. “It builds generosity in the brain. It generally builds positive aspects like happiness in the brain.”
In many ways, immersing oneself in reading can essentially function as a healing process, Fletcher said.
“A lot of times, there’s a therapeutic response because maybe you’re bonding emotionally with a character that goes through struggles or hard times,” Fletcher said. “And when that’s happening, that’s usually helping your own brain process its own experiences of hard times.”
Fletcher said reading is also an instrumental activity for developing empathy and a greater understanding of others’ dynamic lives.
“Literature can help you because if you can find stories about people, real-life people who are different from you, and you read those stories, that increases your imaginative friend group,” Fletcher said. “So, by doing that, that makes you less judgmental, more open to friendships with different people, and that can help ease loneliness and things like that.”
Founded in 2007, the Ohioana Book Festival likewise aims to ease loneliness by bringing authors and readers together, Weaver said. The event is free and utterly open to the public, he said.
Weaver said this year’s festival, which will host 123 prominent Ohio authors and illustrators, is expected to garner over 5,000 visitors. Panel discussions, live podcast recordings, an on-site bookstore at The Book Loft of German Village and book-signing opportunities are just some of the festival’s interactive elements.
“Our tagline is ‘connecting readers and Ohio writers,’ and no event we do exemplifies that better than the [Ohioana] Book Festival,” Weaver said. “We have something for every reader of every age. If you are coming out with a group of people, and each of you has a different literary bent, you can find an author that you will enjoy at the book festival and be able to meet and hear them and talk to them.”
For those who have “lost” a passion for reading with age, Fletcher said getting back into the hobby is easier than many people may realize.
“There’s two good tips,” Fletcher said. “One, just go back to something you used to like to read and read it again. If you liked a book once, you’re gonna like it again when you reread it. Another thing to do is get a friend. Ask them for advice, like, ‘Hey, what’s your favorite book?’ And then when you read that, you can get close to your friend. Or start a reading group with your friend and be like, ‘Hey, let’s read this book together and then we’ll talk about it.”
Columbus-based author Nita Sweeney — who will present her latest book, titled “A Daily Dose of Now: 365 Mindfulness Meditation Practices for Living in the Moment” at the Ohioana Book Festival — said she looks forward to having productive discussions with Columbus readers.
“Authors will talk to you about anything,” Sweeney said. “You can just go from table to table to table or find the genre that you’re interested in reading or interested in writing and pick their brains. They’re there for you, to listen to you and to answer your questions.”
Another featured writer of the 2024 festival is Mindy McGinnis, whose newest young adult novel “Under This Red Rock” was recently published on March 19. A psychological thriller, the book embraces mental illness’ disorienting effects as one of its core theme ideas, McGinnis said.
Notably, McGinnis said reading offers individuals a rare opportunity to step away from reality’s general harshness.
“Reading for pleasure is important because it can be a trapdoor out of reality,” McGinnis said. “It can be a lovely escape from whatever is going on in the world at large, or in your personal world. If you just need to tap out for a minute, reading is a safe way to do that.”
Conversely, reading can also empower individuals to find support and reassurance in relation to their own lived experiences, McGinnis said.
“It’s important to see yourself reflected in the stories,” McGinnis said. “It helps people feel seen. It’s really important for everyone and anyone to be able to pick up a book and see themselves.”
Ultimately, the festival is meant to provide a welcoming space for casual and avid readers alike, Sweeney said.
“There is something for everyone,” Sweeney said. “And so if you are even remotely interested in reading, in books, in authors, in writing, anything related to books, you should go because there’s something there for you.”
The Ohioana Book Festival will be held at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Library, located at 96 S. Grant Ave., on April 20. More information about the festival can be found on the Ohioana Library Association’s website.
