Page Count Turns Three!

Don Boozer (00:00):
If that doesn't entice people to tune in to our next season, I don't know what will.

Laura Maylene Walter (00:04):
Seriously. What are you doing, people, if you're not listening to Page Count?

Don Boozer (00:07):
if you're not listening to Page Count...

Laura Maylene Walter (00:08):
What are you doing?

Laura Maylene Walter (00:08):
Welcome to Page Count, presented by the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. This podcast celebrates authors, illustrators, librarians, booksellers, literary advocates, and readers in and from the state of Ohio. I'm your host, Laura Maylene Walter, the Ohio Center for the Book Fellow and author of the novel BODY OF STARS. My guest today is Don Boozer. You all know him, the coordinator for Ohio Center for the Book and Manager of the Literature Department here at Cleveland Public Library. Hi Don, welcome back to the pod.

Don Boozer (00:46):
Hi, good to be here.

Laura Maylene Walter (00:47):
Well, as is slowly becoming tradition here at Page Count, we are going to take the opportunity to take a quick breather to look back on our last season of work and also to look ahead to the future, which for us will be Season Four. But let's start with the past. So we're coming up on our third anniversary, which by the way, I looked it up again, and the traditional gift for the third year anniversary is leather, which is actually kind of perfect, like a leatherbound book or journal. So that's appropriate. But anyway, we started this podcast back in 2022. So I'm curious, Don, how do you feel about the podcast turning three? How are you feeling about about our journey so far?

Don Boozer (01:30):
I'm feeling good. I think that we've done a really good job and that you specifically have done a great job hosting a variety of topics and authors and I've been really pleased with how things are going. So we're entering our fourth year and I can't believe it, our third birthday now, and we're entering our fourth year.

Laura Maylene Walter (01:46):
I'm happy with what we've done and it's been really great working with you. And of course you do everything that makes Ohio Center for the Book possible and so all of us here are grateful for that. But let's look at some of the episodes that we put out in the last year and just some highlights. So let's start with you. What episodes would you like to call out as some that were your favorites?

Don Boozer (02:05):
We have to start with the very first episode of the season where you talked with two MacArthur Genius grant award winners, Hanif Abdurraqib and Jacqueline Woodson. That was amazing to have that opportunity.

Laura Maylene Walter (02:16):
Yeah, that was a huge highlight last year and I'm almost worried we'll never top it. Um, so this is a challenge to the literary world is you know, keep giving us your luminaries to interview. Yeah, absolutely.

Don Boozer (02:29):
We've had luminaries of various intensities all throughout the episodes, I think.

Laura Maylene Walter (02:34):
You're right, I'm not ranking guests. That's...oh boy. Oh boy. I'm entering dangerous territory immediately. I mean, it was a special event. It was at Ohioana, at their festival, last year. It was when David Weaver was retiring, that was his last festival, which in fact, I believe Jacqueline Woodson said that's why she came back for it, because David is so respected in the community and does so much for Ohio writers that she wanted to be there for that. And so I'm calling it out because it was special to have Jacqueline Woodson and Hanif Abdurraqib in the same room, being able to interview them before a live audience. So another live event that I really enjoyed was the Literary Cleveland Inkubator live event that we recorded with Loung Ung, the author of FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER, among other memoirs. She's just such a light. She has so much energy. She's so good at speaking. You know, that was one of those interviews where I felt like I don't really need to be here. Like she's a pro, she's got this. Let me just go sit in the audience and let her do her thing. So I really enjoyed speaking with her.

Don Boozer (03:34):
She is a fascinating person. And I will say one of the other luminaries that we had, of course, was Guy Lamolinara from the Library of Congress' Center for the Book. So it was great to have him on since he's a Northeast Ohio native and center of the universe as far as the Centers for the Book goes <laugh>. So that was a fun little interview there.

Laura Maylene Walter (03:50):
That was fun, and you joined me for that. So it was nice for both of us to be able to chat with him. I've come to really enjoy any episode that lets me learn more about either a historic figure or some piece of history. And so I really enjoy doing the episode about Dawn Powell. The author Sara Moore Wagner's poetry collection surrounds Annie Oakley, and I learned a lot more about Annie Oakley. And then Chiquita Mullins Lee and Carmela Van Vleet came on to talk about their picture book about the folk artist Elijah Pierce. So I loved that. And then finally, the last history-ish one, I spoke to the editor at Writer's Digest and we looked at a 100-year-old issue of Writer's Digest, which was fun and also a little sad to see what has changed over the years. We all miss typewriters. So I enjoyed the historical ones.

Don Boozer (04:40):
Oh, I definitely agree too. Sarah Moore Wagner's episode was actually on my list as well, and it was just fun to listen to her talk about how she did some of her research too and going to the Annie Oakley Festival and all of those things were just a treat to hear. You mentioned our Great Reads authors. It's always nice to have the Great Reads authors on episodes as well to highlight their work since we choose them to represent Ohio at the National Book Festival. You do a really nice job of trying to do episodes for book releases and things like that, but also the fact that you were able to tie in our episode on the book on the Ohio cemeteries into the Halloween season was a stroke of genius on your part <laugh>. So well done with the scheduling on that.

Laura Maylene Walter (05:16):
Thank you. I mean, I love Halloween and I love cemeteries, so it was, you know, really a perfect fit for me. And it's funny, when I look back at our last season and our history at Page Count, everything already starts running together. I'm already like, what year was it that I did the Toni Morrison Reading Room, for example? But it was this season that we did the Thurber House tour. Which already feels so long ago to me.

Don Boozer (05:39):
Yes, it's on my list as well.

Laura Maylene Walter (05:41):
That was really fun. We both were there for that. We got to see the unicorn in the garden. We got to go ghost hunting in the house. Anything else you'd like to add about that one?

Don Boozer (05:50):
They did such a great job doing the tour and providing the narration for that episode. That was such a good time. And I highly encourage anybody who hasn't been to the Thurber House for the tours. Definitely if you're in the Columbus area, stop by. It's a wonderful sort of writing center but also just the architecture of the house and just the history that's in that house is really fascinating to go through.

Laura Maylene Walter (06:09):
It's really great. Nice wallpaper too, if I'm remembering correctly. <laugh> That's the important part. Forget the literary history...

Don Boozer (06:16):
Historical wallpaper. Indeed. I wanna give you some kudos as well for the New Year's resolutions episode that you did. I know that you were a little trepidatious about doing those snippets. I found that so inspiring and if anybody wants some real positive energy, go back and listen to our episode from December 31. You did a really great job in pulling together just a wide variety of guests that we had and their resolutions and like I said, inspiring thoughts for writers and for anybody.

Laura Maylene Walter (06:43):
I really appreciate that, and maybe I'll do that again this year, because I don't think I've gone back and listened to it since I edited it and posted it. Maybe part of my reluctance was the holdover feelings from like, you know, the eighties and nineties when TV shows would do clip shows. Like, I don't want to watch a clip show, I don't want to do it. So maybe that's what I was worried about, but maybe framing it around the advice helped. And I did love, I mean I loved searching our transcripts for the advice that writers gave, so I loved the process of it and I'm glad to hear that you liked the result.

Don Boozer (07:12):
Yeah, it came across really well. So that was great.

Laura Maylene Walter (07:15):
I swear we're not making this episode just so that we could constantly pat ourselves on the back for being so amazing <laugh>. So I will be, you know, I'm nothing if not honest and I definitely had my first big mistake this year with the podcast at the Columbus Book Festival, when I forgot to hit record, and it was a living nightmare. And look, this stuff happens, and I know that we already talked about it on the episode and so I don't need to belabor it, but this happens and people either forget to hit record or have a recording issue where things get lost or things get messed up. Like it happens to everyone and it had to happen to us at some point. So I'm kind of glad I got that behind me. Those authors were so kind about it. It was Rob Harvilla, Libby Kay, and Alex Rowland, and they were just couldn't be lovelier and more understanding. If this does exist somewhere, do not send it to me anyone, but I still kind of want to see my face when I was doing that event in Columbus and I realized it wasn't recording. Because I know my whole face must have just like...and I had to keep going and pretend nothing was wrong <laugh>. So it was not a highlight, but I can tell everyone in a little preview that Page Count should be both at the Ohioana Book Festival again this year, and they have invited us back to the Columbus Book Festival. So they are not writing us off forever, and we are happy about that.

Don Boozer (08:33):
I really like the fact that we're able to collaborate with some of the other literary organizations in the state, them and the incubator and all the wonderful literary organizations we have around Ohio.

Laura Maylene Walter (08:43):
Absolutely. And we'll be doing more of that in the future. I loved all the episodes we did in the past year, so I can't call them all out, but I will just say I love that the podcast gives me the opportunity just to learn about new things. Like we did the episode on audiobook narration, we had two audiobook narrators and it was just interesting to hear about that job and what it's actually like. I talked about bioluminescence with Julia Kuo, which was really cool.

Don Boozer (09:08):
I enjoyed every last one of them and I don't hear them ahead of time, just so anybody knows. I don't like put a stamp of approval on them or anything. I trust Laura and the guests and everything, and it's fun to be able to listen to them as a fan too. So I guess at some point we'll have to come out with t-shirts, you know, so we all recognize each other. I will put in a plug here for Alison Guerin who has helped with our sound editing and transcript editing over the past few years is getting a new position at Cleveland Public Library as a children's librarian. She recently graduated with her library degree, so we wish her all the best and thank her so much for all of the work that she's put in on the podcast in the past. So congratulations and we wish her the best on her new journey.

Laura Maylene Walter (09:47):
Yes, thank you Alison. Alison has always been a delight to work with and does such good work on the transcripts and the first edits of the episode. And Alison, we're happy for you and congratulations. You know, speaking of the future, we've got Season Four coming up.

Don Boozer (10:03):
Care to share any tidbits of what's going to happen, where people can look forward to?

Laura Maylene Walter (10:06):
I mean, it's still a work in progress, but I can say a few things. We will post a trailer on March 25, and Season Four will officially kick off on Tuesday, April 8th. So one thing I'm excited about that I'm hoping will be fun in this season is a new series called Literary Screening. In this series, my guests and I will, in advance of the recording, watch either a movie or a TV show that in some way involves writing writers books or adaptations of famous books, et cetera. And then we will chat about it on the podcast. I've recorded a few so far, and I think we have some fun stuff coming up with Literary Cleveland, Matt Weinkam and Michelle Smith. We talk about the film AMERICAN FICTION, which I really love. And of course we also talk about Perceval Everett and the book Erasure, which is what AMERICAN FICTION is based on.

Laura Maylene Walter (10:59):
I also talk with RW Franklin, who is a former board member of Lit Youngstown about the film THE TENDER BAR, which I had never seen before. RW suggested it, that was really interesting. And RW was also a fan of the memoir that that film is based on. So she was able to talk about that. And then with Dr. Kim Kiehl, who is the new director of the Ohioana Library Association, this was so fun for me. We watched an episode of The Twilight Zone because Rod Serling, who was the creator of the Twilight Zone and who wrote many of the episodes, he has an Ohio connection. He went to Antioch, he also worked in Cincinnati for a number of years. So we watched an old episode of The Twilight Zone and talked about the series as a whole, talked about Rod Serling. And so I think that one will be a lot of fun.

Don Boozer (11:48):
That sounds wonderful. That's a nice diversion from our usual just, you know, interview format, to be a fly on the wall and to get to listen to those conversations. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Laura Maylene Walter (11:56):
Yeah, I'm really excited about it. I love TV <laugh>, I love movies. Forget this book stuff. Let's watch some tv. But no, seriously...

Don Boozer (12:04):
<laugh> Oh hey, now remember somebody had to write the script.

Laura Maylene Walter (12:06):
I mean, that's why it was so interesting. I read some biographies about Rod Serling and like his writing process, his thoughts on writing and science fiction is all really interesting. And of course with American fiction and Perceval Everett, there was so much to talk about. That'll be a good one. Also, I am working right now with Melissa Carr, who is the archivist here at Cleveland Public Library, and she and I have been doing a deep dive into Linda Eastman, who was a groundbreaking, pioneering librarian who was the head of Cleveland Public Library for 20 years. She worked here for I think, what, 40 years. And she's just an amazing woman and I can't even get into it now because I'll just talk about her for 30 minutes. So I think that will be fun for all the library nerds out there. You know, speaking of librarians, I'll be talking about Nancy Pearl with Karen Henry Clark, who wrote the picture book called LIBRARY GIRL, which focuses on another famous librarian, Nancy Pearl. So that will be coming up, too.

Don Boozer (13:03):
I actually have Nancy Pearl's action figure on my wall even as we speak. She was at an Ohio Library council conference and I actually got her to sign the action figures, so mine's actually signed, too. Just saying.

Laura Maylene Walter (13:13):
This is really the goal of all bookish people is to become so famous we get action figures and that people swarm us at events, right? That's like why we're in this, we're in the right field.

Don Boozer (13:22):
And you already have fans coming up to you at conferences, you know, so that's true. You're halfway there <laugh>.

Laura Maylene Walter (13:26):
And then just a few other quick previews. I just interviewed Dr. Taylor Byas, whose poetry collection has won multiple awards. She has a new book coming out in August, and she actually gave us a preview and read the title poem from her new collection coming out. So that's exciting. And I will also have at least one Cincinnati Review editor coming on to discuss the kind of work they do there and to share some of the writing that they are publishing and what made them select that writing. So I think that will be fun. So there's a lot more to come, but that's just kind of an overview of what's in store for Season Four.

Don Boozer (14:02):
If that doesn't entice people to tune in in our next season, I don't know what will.

Laura Maylene Walter (14:07):
Seriously. <laugh> What are you doing, people, if you're not listening to Page Count?

Don Boozer (14:10):
If you're not listening to Page Count...

Laura Maylene Walter (14:11):
What are you doing? It's so funny, whenever someone says, oh, I listen to every episode. I'm like, really? <laugh> It's just funny. Doing a podcast is similar in some ways to writing a book where you feel alone and that you're with your own thoughts and then you put it out in the world and of course you hope for the best, but it also feels very disconnected from you. I actually just had an email to my personal email from someone who read my novel and was telling me how much she loved it, and I think she was in Ireland or something, and it was just a reminder like, you know, this happens, you start hearing from people about your work. But no matter how many times that happens, it's still always a surprise. Like it's nice to know <laugh> that the work you're putting into these things, people are paying attention. So yeah, and I guess along those lines, we don't do this very often, but I will just ask if you do listen and enjoy Page Count, could you please leave us a rating and a review because that will help more people find us. I always feel funny asking people to do that, so I usually don't, but it really helps new people discover this podcast. So please, if you have a few minutes and if you're able give us a rating and review, I would personally very much appreciate it.

Don Boozer (15:20):
Exactly, exactly. Always appreciated. I'm really looking forward to the next season of Page Count.

Laura Maylene Walter (15:25):
I am as well. I am as well. So thank you for all your Page Count support, and thank you to all our listeners who tune in and listen and support us and show up when we do the live tapings at events. I will be looking forward to meeting a lot more of you in the coming year.

Don Boozer (15:40):
Sounds great.

Laura Maylene Walter (15:41):
Okay. Thanks for joining us, Don, and I guess we'll see you in Season Four.

Laura Maylene Walter (15:49):
Page Count is presented by the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review for Page Count wherever you get your podcast. Learn more online or find a transcript of this episode at ohiocenterforthebook.org, follow us on Instagram @ohiocenterforthebook or find us on Facebook. If you'd like to get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org and put 'podcast' in the subject line. Thanks for listening, and we'll be back in two weeks for another chapter of Page Count.