Page Count

Ohio Center for the Book
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Page Count, presented by the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library, features interviews with authors, librarians, booksellers, illustrators, publishing professionals, and literary advocates in and from the state of Ohio.

  1. 2D AGO

    Bloopers!

    We’re leaving 2025 on a note of failure, mishaps, and shame. That’s right: we have bloopers! Listen in to discover that Laura is incapable of saying the word “archivist,” she asks hopelessly clunky questions, she is completely unfamiliar with the 1991 action film Backdraft, she can’t recall the podcast introduction she’s said literally over 100 times, and she even gets popcorn stuck in her throat right before recording. Also, sometimes the lights go out, the wrong microphone is employed, recorders run low on battery power, and words like “iconography” and “ambiguity” rear their ugly heads. All this and more in our first (and perhaps only ever) bloopers episode.   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    13 min

  2. 12/16/2025

    NO NO NO NO NO NO: The Rejection Show

    It’s December, it gets dark in the afternoon, and it’s freezing here in Ohio…what better time to dive into the cheery topic of rejection? Better yet, how about a clip show of rejection goodies? LOL, you’re welcome! This mini episode features clips from seven guests who appeared on Page Count in 2025 and offered some rejection-related insights on everything from submission strategies to the importance of separating the business from the art, writing out of spite, persistence, and beyond. Plus, Laura shares her own rejection stats from 2025. So what are you waiting for? Dust off your cover letter, log into your Submittable account, and take a listen.   The following episodes were excerpted for this rejection extravaganza:   The Art of Editing with The Cincinnati Review Clicking Our Heels Three Times with Dr. Taylor Byas Experimental Fiction with Mary Grimm Page Count Live: Writing Toward Peace with Loung Ung Touring the Paul Laurence Dunbar House Librarians are Superheroes with Karen Henry Clark Speculative Fiction at the Columbus Book Festival   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    20 min

  3. 12/02/2025

    Holiday Gift Recommendations from Little Professor

    You’ve just been handed a rectangular-shaped gift with the telltale heft and size of a book. Who knows what worlds might be contained in that one little object? This holiday season, you can give that same gift of possibility by shopping at an independent bookstore—and Nick and Celeste Polsinelli, the owners of Little Professor Book Center in Athens, Ohio, have plenty of ideas to get you started. In this episode, Nick offers a range of recommendations, from picture books to epistolary novels to talking cats and beyond, to cover every book lover on your list no matter how eclectic their tastes.   Recommended books: How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Rebecca Green The Christmas Sweater by Jan Brett Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis D.J. Rosenblum Becomes the G.O.A.T. by Abby White The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill A Time of Dread by John Gwynne (Of Blood and Bone series) The Millfield Mine Disaster by Ron W. Luce Enchanted Ground: The Spirit Room of Jonathan Koons by Sharon Hatfield A Place So Deep Inside America It Can't Be Seen by Kari Gunter-Seymour The Bear by Andrew Krivak Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    24 min

  4. 11/18/2025

    Publishing a Debut Memoir with Tiffany Graham Charkosky

    Debut memoirist Tiffany Graham Charkosky discusses the story behind LIVING PROOF: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy, from the medical journey she embarked on after learning she carried a genetic mutation to the years she spent writing and revising the memoir before landing a book deal. Along the way, she also shares the challenges and joys of writing material that is deeply personal, the physical and emotional implications of genetic testing, finding the right structure for her story, searching for a literary agent, how she grappled with the issue of platform as a memoirist, the trajectory of her publishing journey, why Cleveland is such a great place for writers, and the magic of just showing up.   In this episode: Living Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy Literary Cleveland Cleveland Public Library Query Critiques with Devon Halliday Lynch Syndrome Kenyon College “It’s Not as Bad as You Think” by Jane Friedman   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    54 min

  5. 11/04/2025

    Illuminating the Origins of the Tiffany Lamps with Sandra Nickel

    In her new picture book, Sandra Nickel reveals the true genius behind the iconic Tiffany stained glass lamp designs: Clara Driscoll, an Ohio-born artist who managed the “Tiffany Girls” in Louis Comfort Tiffany’s studio in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While Driscoll’s contributions went unrecognized for decades, we now know she was the artist behind the gorgeous dragonfly, wisteria, poppy, daffodil, and peony lampshade designs, among many others. Nickel shares Driscoll’s story in Making Light Bloom: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Lamps alongside the luminous illustrations by Julie Paschkis.   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    42 min

  6. 10/21/2025

    Deliciously Creepy: Celebrating 100 Episodes with Dan Chaon

    For our 100th episode, we’re traveling back in time: to 1915, the setting of Dan Chaon’s latest novel, One of Us, and to September 13, 2025, when this conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at the Literary Cleveland Inkubator Writing Conference. While using his new novel as an example, Chaon discusses the craft of fiction, including voice, setting, point of view, characterization, language, research, revision, and more. From disturbing clowns to ax-wielding sociopaths, telepathic twins, orphan trains, and beyond, this conversation has it all, so step right up and enjoy our 100th episode.   Dan Chaon is the author of Ill Will, a national bestseller that was named one of the ten best books of the year by Publishers Weekly; the short story collection Stay Awake, a finalist for the Story Prize; the national bestseller Await Your Reply; and Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award. His newest novel, One of Us, was published in September 2025 by Henry Holt and Co. Chaon lives in Cleveland. Author photo credit: Géraldine Aresteanu   If you’ve read this far, that means you’re clearly one of us. Say it with me: One of us! One of us! One of us!   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    1h 8m

  7. 10/07/2025

    Literary Screening: The Wild Robot with Tricia Springstubb

    Cleveland-based children’s book author Tricia Springstubb takes listeners on an adventure through the wilderness via The Wild Robot—how her granddaughter introduced her to Peter Brown’s story, why she loves the novel, and her thoughts on the film adaptation—before discussing her own writing journey. She shares how she came to publish thirteen books since 2010; why she loves writing for young people; the inspiration behind her latest novel, How to Tell a True Story; how she came to write in the new genre “young teen lit;” and more.   Books by Tricia Springstubb: How to Tell a True Story Looking for True   The Most Perfect Thing in the Universe The Cody series Every Single Second Moonpenny Island Mo Wren, Lost and Found What Happened on Fox Street Khalil and Mr. Hagerty and the Backyard Treasures Phoebe and Digger   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    40 min

  8. 09/23/2025

    Speculative Fiction at the Columbus Book Festival

    Listeners, you’re about to slip through a portal to arrive at the 2025 Columbus Book Festival, where Megan Giddings, Ruben Reyes Jr., and Edward Underhill discussed the ins and outs of speculative fiction: why they write it, why they love it, and the challenges and opportunities the genre presents. We’ve got mysterious doors opening to unknown lands, alternate realties, time slips, and plenty of additional oddities, so step into that portal and don’t you dare look back.   Megan Giddings, the author of the novels Lakewood, The Women Could Fly, and, most recently, Meet Me at the Crossroads. Her story collection, Black Arts, is forthcoming in 2026. She is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota.   Ruben Reyes, Jr. is the author of the short story collection There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven and, most recently, the novel Archive of Unknown Universes. Originally from Southern California, he now lives in Brooklyn.   Edward Underhill is the author of the young adult novels Always the Almost, This Day Changes Everything, and In Case You Read This. His latest novel is his first for adults, The In-Between Bookstore. He grew up in Wisconsin and currently resides in California.   Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

    50 min
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About

Page Count, presented by the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library, features interviews with authors, librarians, booksellers, illustrators, publishing professionals, and literary advocates in and from the state of Ohio.

Information

  • Creator
    Ohio Center for the Book
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2022 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Page Count

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