UC Authors Honored at Ohioana Library Association Reception

On Sunday, March 14, 2010, the Hamilton County Committee of the Ohioana Library Association and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County held a joint program to honor the books published by authors who lived or formerly lived in Hamilton County. Of the day’s 50 honorees, nearly a third are affiliated with the University of Cincinnati as alumni, faculty or staff (some have even been all three).

Even David Weaver, development director of Ohioana who moderated the panel on sports writing, was at one time a music student at CCM and treated the audience to a taste of what he called his personal theme song, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.Kim Fender, the director of the Public Library, welcomed the authors, saying how impressed she was at their extraordinary creativity. The authors ranged from first-time authors and a student at the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, to “well seasoned” authors and those who had been publishing for almost 60 years.

Here are the UC authors and their works:

• June Granatir Alexander, “Daily Life in Immigrant America, 1870–1920”
• Deborah Amend, “A Dress for Anna: The Story of the Redemption of the Life of a Ukrainian Orphan”
• Wendy Hart Beckman, “Robert Cormier: Banned, Challenged, and Censored”
• Christopher Bennett, “Over a Torrent Sea”
• James Braziel, “Snakeskin Road”
• Charles F. Casey-Leininger, “To Secure Justice and Protect the Rights of the Needy: A History of the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati, 1908–1988”
• Joseph F. Clark, “My Ambulance Education: Life and Death on the Streets of the City”
• Donald Carey Harrison, “Mending Broken Hearts: One Cardiologist’s Journey Through a Half Century of Discovery and Medical Change”
• Melissa Kramer, “The Inclines of Cincinnati”
• David L. Meyer, “A Sea Without Fish: Life in the Ordovician Sea of the Cincinnati Region”
• Lisa Mueller, “Cincinnati Fire History”
• Sue Ann Painter, “The Art of Beverly Erschell”
• John Snyder, “Dodgers Journal: Year by Year and Day by Day with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers Since 1884”; “Indians Journal: Year by Year and Day by Day with the Cleveland Indians Since 1901”; “White Sox Journal: Year by Year and Day by Day with the Chicago White Sox Since 1901”; “365 Oddball days in Boston Red Sox History”
• Arthur Speigel, “A Trial on Its Merits: The Life of a Judge”
• Carol Tyler, “You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man”
• Ann Warner, “Dreams for Stones”

(Many more of the 175-plus Hamilton County authors have UC connections, but were not able to attend the reception.)

The Martha Kinney Cooper Ohioana Library Association, as it is formally called, was formed in 1929 and is named for the first lady of Ohio, Mrs. Myers Y. Cooper. A former Cincinnatian herself, Mrs. Cooper was distressed at the lack of books in the governor’s mansion and began soliciting good books from around the state of Ohio to fill it.

The Hamilton County Chapter of the Ohioana Library Association has held a recognition event for Hamilton County authors every year since 1930, said Georgeanne Bradford, the director of the Hamilton Country Chapter.

More News About UC Authors

Submissions Underway for Authors, Editors and Composers Reception
The event to honor the publishing talent of UC faculty will be held on April 22. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 19.