Last Saturday my mom and I attended the Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus and we can thank Carol for the wonderful day since it was her post that intrigued me.  We had a fun time going to a few of the panels, visiting the author tables, and meeting Carol and her husband and daughter.  I didn’t even recognize her (she doesn’t post enough pics of herself on her blog) but I knew who Amber was right away.  We only visited for a few minutes, but hopefully next year we can work in some more time.  She was lovely.

The panels

Columbus at 200 with Raimund Goerler, David Meyers, Arnett Howard, Nellie Kampmann

• I grew up about 40 minutes east of Columbus and graduated from Ohio State so I was interested to see what kind of things they would share.  Goerler wrote a book about the history of Ohio State that I’m pretty sure I’ll be unwrapping for my birthday in October.
• Kampmann talked about the haunted places around town and her experiences with ghosts.  Although I have no intention of reading her book I was most fascinated by her stories.

Fiction:Mystery series with Les Roberts, Casey Daniels, Carrie Bebris

• This is my fourth time listening to Les Roberts speak and it never gets old.
• I was surprised to learn that Daniels has a mystery series set in Lakeview Cemetery, one of my favorite Cleveland places.  I am very excited to start this series.
• Bebris writes a series of books that blend Austen novels “in which the married Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice become entangled in intrigue with other Austen characters.” I picked up the first one!

Novel Ideas:Creating Fiction with Karen Harper and Robin Yocum

• This one was fun because you had an author with 20 books and a brand new novelist sharing the way they approach writing.  I also thought it was interesting to hear Karen talk about the difference in British marketing and why some of her books are bestsellers over there and not here. (Hint:they add Queen to the title over there)

I only came home with three books, but I am going to make it a goal to read all three plus a few other Ohio authors for the next month or so.  I hope you’ll enjoy my Ohio author reading tour!