Ohioana in good hands as Weaver retires soon, after much-anticipated book festival
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In 2007, the book “Good Roots: Writers Reflect on Growing Up in Ohio” sparked the first Ohioana Book Festival. Ten of the 20 authors from the book – including eventual literary superstars, novelist Anthony Doer and critic Michael Dirda – attended, as did an audience of a couple hundred people.
Growth happens. This year’s Ohioana Book Festival, scheduled for Saturday, April 20 at the ColumbusMetropolitan Main Library, is to feature more than 120 authors. About 5,000 people are expected to attend. It is to be the last festival for Ohioana Library Association Executive Director David Weaver, who, after 18 years with the organization, is retiring in May.
“You want to leave at a time when the organization is in a good place,” Weaver, 72, said before launching into his enthusiasm for this year’s literary lineup. Among the authors appearing are to be David Giffels (“The Beginning Was the End: Devo in Ohio”), Mindy McGinnis (“Under this Red Rock”), Thrity Umrigar (“The Museum of Failures”), Amit Majmudar (Ohio’s first poet laureate), Kari Gunter-Seymour (the current poet laureate), Hanif Abdurraqib (“There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension) and Jacqueline Woodson (“Remember Us”).
These last two are to appear together on a panel to be recorded for the Ohio Center for the Book’s “Page Count” podcast.
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In the week before the festival, cartoonist Tom Batiuk, a participant every year, is to devote the plot of his comic strip “Crankshaft” to the festival.
Weaver said he is proud that the festival has been held every year since it started, including the two virtual years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Weaver began work with the Ohioana Library in 2005, becoming executive director 10 years ago. His first association with Ohioana was as a writer, attending an authors’ reception and meeting then executive director Linda Hengst. Weaver had just published “Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy,” a biography of who George Gershwin chose to play the role of Serena in his opera, “Porgy and Bess.”
Elzy had studied music at The Ohio State University where Weaver, also a singer, had become aware of her. Hengst asked him what he did when not writing or singing, and Weaver replied that his day job was as a fundraiser. Hengst brought him aboard as the development director for the library.
Over the years, Weaver has worked to grow Ohioana’s festival, as well as its annual authors awards, both in size and prestige.
Patrick Losinski, chief executive officer of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, called Weaver “a tireless advocate for Ohio authors.”
“He has worked diligently over the years to engage authors, donors, politicos and more − for the benefit of readers here in Ohio and well beyond,” Losinski said. “He has truly left his mark on our state’s literary landscape.”
Andrew Welsh-Huggins, a Columbus author of both fiction and nonfiction who has participated in at least 10 festivals, agreed.
“Today, we take for granted the state’s strong literary traditions, but a big part of that acknowledgment is due to David’s work elevating our authors’ profiles,” Welsh-Huggins said.
Weaver said he was once asked if it wasn’t parochial to champion just Ohio writers.
“I said, ‘you mean, parochial like cheering for the Buckeyes?’ If a state can be proud of its football, basketball and baseball players, why can’t it be proud of its poets, novelists and essayists?”
Weaver said he believes Ohio is fertile ground for writers by virtue of its Midwest location and diverse regions: southern Ohio, Appalachian Ohio, the industrial northeast, the rural northwest and the white collar-educational center.
“I think people who have grown up in these areas have different experiences, which impact their stories,” he said. “Even when they leave Ohio, their writing still reflects this.”
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During his tenure, Weaver has weathered rocky moments − a 2022 award-winning writer’s criticism of Ohio politicians at the awards ceremony that sparked backlash, and for several years, calls for more diversity among the winning writers.
Weaver said Ohioana has worked hard to remedy the latter and that at least one third of the most recent winners are minorities.
Weaver retires May 31. A search began early this year for his successor who should be announced shortly.
For his part, Weaver plans to stay active in at least one Ohioana project – a 100th anniversary celebration of the birth of writer Rod (“Twilight Zone”) Serling, a graduate of Antioch College in Yellow Springs.
“He’s just one of those great writers who, at one time or another, called Ohio home,” Weaver said.
At a glance
The Ohioana Book Festival is scheduled to take place from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 20, atthe Columbus Metropolitan Main Library, 96 S. Grant Ave. All events are free.
Prior to that day, and following the festival, authors of children and adult books are to appear at selected branch libraries and other locations. For more information and a schedule of all events, visit ohioana.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Executive Director enters 2024 Ohioana Book Festival in bittersweet times
