Authors at the Library

We’re bringing you face-to-face with authors you love and up-and-coming authors working in a wide variety of genres. You’ll get first looks at new books and just might discover your next favorite author!
Don’t miss out! Visit this page for updates, sign up here for our Check It Out emails and follow us on social media.
Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries
Saturday, Jan. 25 | 10:30 a.m.
Main Library | Reading Room

Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries is a professor of history at The Ohio State University. His talk will explore how race and racism have shaped Ohio, influencing both its neighborhoods and its politics. 

This program is made possible, in part, by Ohio Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Lisa Genova
Sunday, Jan. 26 | 2 p.m.
Main Library | Reading Room
Acclaimed as the Oliver Sacks of fiction and the Michael Crichton of brain science, Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice, adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart. Her new novel is More or Less Maddy.
Amber McBride
Friday, Jan. 31 | 10 a.m.
Main Library | Reading Room
Amber McBride estimates she reads about 100 books a year. Her work has been published in literary magazines including Ploughshares  and Provincetown Arts. Her debut young adult novel, Me (Moth) was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the 2022 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent.
This program is made possible by Battelle, whose gift to the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation helps make it possible for us to host additional author talks for kids and teens.
Rick Steves
An Evening with Rick Steves
Thursday, Feb. 20 | 7 p.m.
Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St.
Join popular travel writer and public television host Rick Steves as he recalls adventures from his new book On The Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer, which features curated and transcribed journal entries and stunning photographs chronicling his 1978 journey on the famed Hippie Trail, a 3,000-mile trek from Istanbul to Kathmandu.
Presented by 12 central Ohio library systems: Bexley, Columbus, Delaware, Grandview Heights, Granville, London, Marysville, Plain City, Southwest, Upper Arlington, Westerville and Worthington.
Tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster starting Friday, Dec. 20 at 10 a.m.
Mary Robinette Kowal
and John Scalzi
Sunday, March 23 | 2 p.m.
Main Library | Reading Room
Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of The Martian Contingency, the fourth book in her acclaimed Lady Astronaut series. She is also the author of The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, The Spare Man.

John Scalzi is the author of Old Man’s War, his debut novel that won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation among others. When the Moon Hits Your Eye is his newest book.
Main Library is at 96 S. Grant Ave., Columbus, OH 43215
Don’t miss the Columbus Book Festival July 12-13

Celebrating a Community of Book Lovers

* Battelle’s generous gift to the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation helps make it possible for the library to host additional author talks for kids and teens.

*Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Ohio Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.