The 6th annual Cincinnati USA Books by the Banks Book Festival went swimmingly. Attendance is estimated to have topped 5000 visitors who enjoyed mascot dance parties, cooking demos, kids corners, panel discussions, and some good old face-time with the people who write the books–and blogs–you love to read. The variety of this festival is staggering: from headliners with lines of adoring fans to authors with smaller, which is not to say less interested audiences. The Petersiks of Young House Love fell into the former category, and and Michael Nye, editor of The Missouri Review and author of the short story collection Strategies Against Extinction, reflects on his blog on the meaning of long lines and different forms in the book festival of today and tomorrow. The Petersiks also offered their take on, as they put it, “Nerding it Up in the Nasty ‘Nati.”
I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival, with new Executive Director Margaret O’Gorman at a new venue: The Banks.
-Ed Scripsi
