Helen Thomas set for book fair
10/26/2002The 16th annual Buckeye Book Fair, featuring 95 authors, illustrators, and photographers connected to Ohio, will be Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Wooster.
Authors will meet the public and sign autographs. Books will be sold at a 15 percent discount, and a 25 percent discount to libraries, said Stephen Badman, manager of the book fair.
Headliners include Helen Thomas, former White House bureau chief for United Press International and author of Thanks for the Memories, Mr. President, and Vincent Dowling, former director of the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland and author of the autobiographical Astride the Moon.
Sportswriter Bob Dyer will sign his new book, Omar: My Life On and Off the Field, co-written with Cleveland Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel. Pam Anderson, food columnist of USA Today Weekend magazine, will sign copies of her book, CookSmart.
Three Toledo-area authors will attend, including children's writer Jan Wahl, a perennial favorite who has been at every fair, said Mr. Badman. University of Toledo faculty members Paul Many and David A. Harris also will be there. Many, a journalism professor, has written three novels geared toward teenagers. Harris is a law professor and author of Profiles in Injustice: Why Police Profiling Cannot Work.
Mystery writers Les Roberts, who writes about a Cleveland-based detective, and Karen Harper, who writes a series based around Queen Elizabeth I, will attend.
About a quarter of the authors are children's writers, said Badman, adding that the fair is a popular place for purchasing holiday gifts.
The fair is at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, 1680 Madison Ave. (also known as St. Rte. 250). Admission is $2 for adults, free for senior citizens, students, and children. Parking is free.