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Books By The Banks 2019

The 13th Annual Books By The Banks Cincinnati USA Book Festival will be held Saturday, October 26 the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati. Along with more than 100 authors who will talk with patrons and sign copies of their books, there will be author panels and discussions; a kids zone and teen scene with a variety of activities and entertainment; sponsor tables; and an onsite bookstore from Joseph Beth Booksellers.Cincinnati Public Radio will have a table - stop by and say hi to the hosts and staff, sign-up to win a CD or other prize, and let us know what you think about our stations! This event is free to attend, and runs from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.More information can be found at booksbythebanks.org.91.7 WVXU is a proud media partner.We've had the opportunity to interview, or review, many of the authors you'll meet at this year's Books by the Banks . Here's a list if you'd like to hear from one of your favorites! BBTB 2019 AUTHORS WHO HAVE BEEN ON WVXU THIS YEARConnie Dow: From A to Z with Energy! 26 Ways to Move and PlayTerry Gamble: The EulogistJessica Strawser: Forget You Know MeAlexander Watson: Saucy Boat, Stout Mates, Spotted Dog, AmericaMargaret McMullan: Where The Angels LivedCandace Ganger: Six Goodbyes We Never SaidBook Review: Dan and Judy Dourson: Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River BasinJohn Kachuba: Shapeshifters: A HistoryDan Woellert: Cincinnati Goetta: A Delectable HistoryKaren Abbott: The Ghosts Of Eden ParkBook Review: Constance J. Moore and Nancy M. Broermann: Maria Longworth Storer: From Music and Art to Popes and PresidentsPauletta Hansel:When She Was Done (a Mother's Day poem)Coal Town Photograph (Father's Day poems)Sherry Stanforth and Richard Hague: Riparian: Poetry, Short Prose, and Photographs Inspired by the Ohio River (airing on November 24)Rick Kennedy: 100 Years of Reimagining Flight (Cincinnati Edition)Jack Heffron: Classic Reds: The 50 Greatest Games in Cincinnati Reds History (Cincinnati Edition)Michael Morgan: Cincinnati Beer (Cincinnati Edition)Greg Rhodes and John Erardi: Baseball Revolutionaries: How the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Rocked the Country and Made Baseball Famous (Cincinnati Edition)David Bell: LayoverWilliam Plunkett: The G-Men and the Nurse: A 1929 Washington Cold CaseJillian Scudder: Astroquizzical: A Curious Journey Through Our Cosmic Family Tree (Looking Up podcast)

New 'Twilight Zone' Author At Books By The Banks Saturday

91.7 WVXU | By John Kiesewetter

Published October 25, 2017 at 9:00 AM EDT

Everything he needed to know he learned from "The Twilight Zone " created by Rod Serling…. And most everything that Serling needed to know, he learned as a young writer in Southwestern Ohio.

Mark Dawidziak, my fellow TV critic from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and a longtime friend, brings his newest book, a "Twilight Zone" appreciation, toBooks By The BanksSaturday.

"Everything I Need To Know I Learned In The Twilight Zone" offers 50 life lessons, ground rules and inspirational thoughts from the iconic "Twilight Zone" TV anthology series (1959-64) created by Serling.

And Dawidziak notes in the book that much of Serling's inspiration – and formative years as a writer – occurred attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs and writing for WLW radio/television, WKRC-TV's "The Storm" and freelancing for the major TV networks from Cincinnati from 1946 to 1954.

"When he arrived at Antioch after World War II, he didn't know that he wanted to be a writer. He went there to be a physical education teacher. He went to Antioch and Yellow Springs to work through the trauma of the war," Dawidziak says. After success writing radio plays in college, he was hired after graduation in 1950 by WLW.

Rod Serling publicity photo for "The Twilight Zone" premiere in 1959.

"He went to Cincinnati to make himself a writer. It's the seedbed of everything for him. It's holy ground. Rod's themes didn't change over the years. Cincinnati is not just important to him, it's vitally important. It's the ah-hah moment of his life."

Many of the themes Serling explored on "The Twilight Zone" – prejudice, war, yearning for a simpler time, boxing, treatment of the elderly – first appeared in Serling's half-hour scripts for "The Storm," WKRC-TV's live drama series in 1951-52.

Dawidziak, author of 32 books, has been collecting Serling material for nearly 35 years. His inspiration for this book came from watching every "Twilight Zone" with his teen-age daughter Becky six years ago. After they saw David Wayne sell his soul to the devil in "Escape Clause" (1959), "I turned to my daughter and said, 'Always read a contract. Know what you're signing.' And it became a running joke."

"Everything I Need To Know" includes lessons from "Twilight Zone" performers Robert Redford, Carol Burnett and Jack Klugman, and from TV writers David Chase ("The Sopranos"), Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and others.

Dawidziak also has written books about "Columbo," "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," Mark Twain and Dracula.

One more note: Among the nearly 150 authors appearing at Books By The Banks will be Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News and WCPO-TV anchor. Books At The Banks is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Duke Energy Convention Center.