Celebrating the Joy and Reading of Books

Saturday, October 17, was the third annual Books by the Banks: Cincinnati USA Books Festival and was held at Duke Energy Convention Center from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The day-long festival featured over 90 regional and national authors, book signings, author panels, and activities for the entire family to enjoy in the Target Kids’ Corner.

At the festival, attendees met authors to purchase signed copies of their books. The writers represented various genres, including fiction, non-fiction, cooking, children’s literature, sports, and more. Nationally known authors such as Jennifer Weiner, Garth Stein, and Jeannette Walls joined local favorites Greg Rhodes, Ellen Schreiber, and Thayne Maynard to celebrate the “joy and reading of books.”

University of Cincinnati authors representing the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, (DAAP), and the College of Medicine were among the authors at the festival. The UC authors were:

• James Braziel, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English & Comparative Literature in A&S. Braziel is the author of Snakeskin Road, described as a woman’s harrowing journey of survival along a passageway of terror and hope. Braziel’s first novel, Birmingham 35 Miles, was included in the festival last year.
• Joseph Clark, Professor of Neurology in the College of Medicine. Clark’s book, My Ambulance Education: Life and Death on the Streets of the City, describes his experience working to pay his way through college as an ambulance attendant on the most dangerous streets of New York beginning at the age of 18.
• Melissa Kramer, fourth-year journalism student. Kramer’s first book, The Inclines of Cincinnati, was released last March. The book, part of Arcadia’s “Images of Rail” series, examines a time when Cincinnati’s streetcars carried locals and tourists to the peaks of Mount Adams, Mount Auburn, Clifton, and Price Hill, and explores reasons for the disappearance of the city’s number one tourist attraction, the Mt. Adams incline. Read more about Kramer’s research in “Ask a Student” on page 5 of this issue of Source.
• Carol Tyler, Adjunct Instructor of Fine Arts in DAAP. Her graphic novel, You’ll Never Know. Book 1: A Good and Decent Man, is the first of a three-part series that uses comics and graphics to help veterans and their families deal with the effects of war. The book is a tribute to her father, a World War II veteran.
• James Wilson, Professor of English & Comparative Literature in A&S. Wilson’s memoir, Weather Reports from the Autism Front: A Father’s Memoir of His Autistic Son, is an honest portrayal of life with an autistic child and the challenges and joys that brings.
  

Books by the Banks was organized by the UC Libraries, Cincinnati Magazine, The Mercantile Library, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Planning is underway for next year’s Books by the Banks to be held in October 2010. For more information, visit www.booksbythebanks.org.

Source Index