At this point, it’s hard to imagine life before the internet, even for those of us who inhabited the earth long before screens dominated our existence. There are advantages to having access to so much information at a moment’s notice. But, for a considerable number of us, little is more satisfying than the ability to crack open a book and immerse oneself in its tactile, uniquely transportive pleasures.
Books are a balm for those looking to take a break from the chaotic, often anxiety-inducing aspects of modern living, which is why Books by the Banks is such a satisfying fix for lovers of the printed word. The annual festival debuted in 2007, a literary oasis for a cavalcade of authors and readers who appreciate what they do. The latest edition returns Saturday, Nov. 16, running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a new home following a long run at the Duke Energy Center. Admission, as ever, is free.
“One of the big things this year, if not the biggest, is that the festival will be at the newly renovated Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library downtown,” David Rippe, president of Books by the Banks’ board of trustees, writes by email. “We’re very excited to use this venue because it gives us naturally lighted space, covers two floors and is set in a place dedicated to books and reading. We feel it’s going to be our best festival yet.”
Books by the Banks again offers panel discussions, author readings and signings and activities for kids. The festival features works in an array of genres — from biography, fiction, teen and poetry to fantasy, romance, historical and local interest. More than 120 authors are set to take part, including a typically robust lineup of local and regional writers.
Among the book discussions of interest are Michael D. Morgan and Bret Kollman Baker’s endlessly entertaining Tanked in Cincinnati: Fortune & Calamity in the Beer Business. (They appear at 3 p.m. as one of 10 “Author Stage Talks” on the library’s second floor.) The duo’s collaboration dives into Cincinnati’s rich beer-brewing history and features interviews with a host of contemporary craft beer luminaries based both in the Queen City and out. Morgan is no stranger to books about libations, previously serving up 2010’s Over-the-Rhine: When Beer was King and 2019’s Cincinnati Beer. A champion of historical preservation, Morgan wrote the first book to shine a light on Over-the-Rhine’s roots and the neighborhood’s need for revitalization.
“I found that beer was a way to get people to listen to things that they wouldn’t ordinarily listen to,” Morgan says by phone. “And then just the history itself is fascinating in the ways that beer is intertwined with American history. It’s changed, it’s morphed. The focus is no longer historic preservation in this last book by any means, but that broader concept of beer and the industry telling broader stories about society and business patterns and just a kind of the way we live and enjoy life, that’s a big part of what Bret and I do with this book.”
Perhaps the highest profile of the panel discussions features longtime Rolling Stone staffer Rob Sheffield, one of the best music critics of the last 30 years. (Sheffield’s conversation with Cleveland-based journalist Annie Zaleski begins at 1:30 p.m. on the library’s third floor.) His just-published Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music examines the rise of an artist few anticipated would become the cultural juggernaut she’s become today. Sheffield was a Swiftie from the get-go.
“I’ve been writing about her music for such a long time, back when she was a teenage country singer with a couple of hits and nobody knew she was going to be anything more than that,” Sheffield says by phone from his apartment in Brooklyn. “I still remember hearing ‘Our Song’ the first time and just being knocked totally sideways by it.”
No ordinary fan, Sheffield — whose previous books include the excellent Love Is a Mixtape and the even better Dreaming the Beatles — has crafted a running list for Rolling Stone ranking every song Swift has ever written. For the curious, he has “All Too Well” at No. 1.
“I wanted the book to be a story about the music as it has moved through the world,” he says. “There’s just never been a career like this one. For someone to be at this level for 18 years, there’s just no precedent for that. The Beatles lasted half this long. I wanted to tell the entire story of her career, of this artist, and how she’s built it song by song, album by album, into something that’s never existed before. I can’t say I solved this mystery of how this happened or how she does this, but I wanted to try to understand it a little better because it looms so large.”
Another local author taking part in the festivities is Jessica Strawser, whose latest novel, the recently published Catch You Later, is getting props from across the literary landscape. (Strawser is part of a panel discussion dubbed “Buzzworthy Books” at 12:30 p.m. in room 1SC.)
“I’m always surprised by how many Cincinnatians have never heard of Books by the Banks!” Strawser writes by email. “We’re so fortunate to have an event that brings talented authors from all over the country to town for a full day of programming for kids, teens and adults — all for free. I look forward to it every fall.”
Strawser believes books remain as vital as ever.
“I’ve been noticing an uptick in readers lately who’ve made a point of approaching me at my events to say they recently rediscovered their love of reading after years of not picking up a book. My hunch — and my hope — is that books satisfy a craving for something focused and substantial in a world where we’re all being pulled in so many directions at once.”
Books by the Banks takes place Nov. 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library downtown. More info: booksbythebanks.org.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Nov. 13 print edition.
This article appears in Nov 13-26, 2024.