2010 Ohioana Book Festival

The 2010 Ohioana Book Festival: Celebrating Ohio’s Authors

Saturday, May 8th, 2010
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Ohioana and the State Library of Ohio
274 E. First Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43201


2009 Ohioana Book Festival from Ohioana Book Festival on Vimeo.

I met Cindy Puckett, President of the Ohioana Library Association, during the 2010 CSCC Writer's Conference. She was promoting this year's Ohioana Book festival. We briefly discussed one of the Ohioana Library's goals which is to preserve and promote Ohio's literary culture. I mentioned to her how important it was for Columbus as a community to help foster the creation of narratives (i.e., stories).

I told her when creative people like writers, playwrights, and screenwriters see that there is an accessibility to the tools necessary for the development of their narratives and the resources available for them to be heard it attracts more creative people and drives more economic development in that community. Just compare Columbus, and Ohio for that matter, to other cities where there is a thriving literary culture like L.A., NYC, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, even Savannah.

CCAD spearheaded a study about Columbus' economic development, called Creative Columbus. The study focused on the Creative Class a term coined by economic theorist Richard Florida. It's lingo for the creative folks who are considered an engine for economic development in a community.

I suspect if the tools are developed in Columbus to foster a self-sustaining process of  creating dramatic narratives and get them produced (i.e., theatrical, cinema graphic, animated, and televised) then we will have the raw materials (media) to feed the creative economy.

We need more organizations like the Ohioana Library Association. They get it.  Do you know any other organizations like the Ohioana Library Association or The Drama Foundry? How have they helped our community to develop, promote, and preserve Ohio's lliterary culture.